Pubdate: Fri, 31 Oct 2014
Source: Metro (Calgary, CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Calgary
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4471
Author: Jeremy Nolais
Page: 14

Bud talk in Banff.

COLORADO SGT. WARNS ALBERTA OF POT PERILS

Would legalization weed out the black market?

Albertans shouldn't be green with envy over Colorado's legalization of
marijuana, a high-ranking law-enforcement officer from that state told
a Banff conference Thursday.

Sgt. Jim Gerhardt, a drug agent operating out of Thornton, Colo., said
the number of youth using marijuana recreationally is on the rise, the
blackmarket supply of the drug may actually be expanding, and
commercial providers are involved in a "parasitic" business model that
relies on getting people addicted.

"What we've seen is the cons really outweigh the pros," Gerhardt said
in an interview shortly before delivering the keynote address at the
Evolution and Management of Marijuana Grow-ops, hosted at the Banff
Centre.

He said one teenager in the state threw himself off a hotel balcony
after eating a marijuana-infused cookie, while another user shot his
wife after ingesting the drug and believing the world was about to
end.

There are also lingering questions about the methods to test for
drug-impaired drivers, although it's unclear if collisions related to
use of marijuana have risen since the Jan. 1 legalization date.

"The incidents are just stacking up, left and right," Gerhardt said.
"People are blowing up their homes doing butane hash oil extraction.
It's just kind of a free-for-all and we're not seeing any benefit from
it. The taxes are underperforming =C2=85 there's human lives being lost a
nd
I don't know what the dollar value you can put on those that makes it
OK."

The cases described by Gerhardt have also been referenced by other
law-enforcement officials sounding alarms at news conferences, but
pro-pot advocates have pointed out that violent crime in Denver
dropped over the first four months of the year - assaults, for
example, declined 3.7 per cent.

Gerhardt, however, said he fears for Canada as it moves to a model
that sees commercial supply of the drug in large greenhouses run by
private corporations. Newly prescribed users of medicinal marijuana,
which the courts have said the federal government must provide
reasonable access to, can no longer grow plants in their own homes.

"We battle, I guess what you'd call 'Big Pot' in our state =C2=85 They se
nd
armies of lobbyists down to the capital every session =C2=85 it really
doesn't end with marijuana," Gerhardt said. "The goal with a lot of
these groups is that all recreational drugs will be available through
some kind of a commercial setting."

But Stan Swiatek, founder and president of Airdrie-area Sundial
Growers, deemed the investigator's remarks "absurd," and said Canada's
new commercial approach "weeds out the black market,
absolutely."

"Kids can get (marijuana) easier than they can a bottle of wine right
now on the black market =C2=85 so, how are we going to stop that? By
arresting all these people? It hasn't worked to this point in time."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt