Pubdate: Mon, 23 Mar 2015
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Authors: Pula Davis, Wayne Laugesen, Christine Tatum
Series: Special report, 'Clearing the Haze:'

TOUGH TASK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

The legalization of marijuana has forced police officers to violate 
federal law, say a group of sheriffs who are suing Colorado over the 
drug. It has dramatically affected the officers who have to patrol 
the streets - delivering them a new set of complex problems.

Proponents of Amendment 64 said legalizing recreational sales and use 
of marijuana would stifle the black market in Colorado. That is not 
the case; crime statistics indicate we have more to learn about the 
long-term effects of legal pot on public safety and other concerns.

Data indicate there is new black market trafficking across the 
country as a result of legalized pot sales in Colorado. Other safety 
concerns surrounding concentrates and their manufacture are 
consequences of legalization that were never anticipated.

"It's legal, man, why are you hassling us?"

It's a phrase Barry Rizk, a Colorado Springs police officer assigned 
to the downtown area, has heard frequently.

People think because pot is legal they can smoke in the open.

 From January through October last year, police in the downtown area 
wrote 24 tickets for pot smoking in public; citywide through Dec. 28, 
the number was 52.

Rizk has all kinds of stories associated with marijuana.

"I've had people driving by smoking it. I remember it was super hot 
one day, and I had my windows rolled up (with the air conditioning) 
and I'm in my patrol car and I'm on Tejon and a guy honks his horn at 
me and tells me to roll my window down. He's driving by in his 
vehicle, smoking marijuana, sees me and has me roll my window down. I 
ended up writing him a couple of tickets. I asked him 'what were you 
thinking?' "

There was the guy from Texas who said he moved here for Colorado's 
grow. Others for the "hot bud."

Then there were the four teens from Oklahoma who came here for pot. 
"They basically drove around looking for it, and they found a dealer 
with a red card who went to an MMJ dispensary and bought the pot. He 
went in and bought it and came out and sold to them. We ticketed them 
and identified the dealer and arrested him, who also had LSD.

"I've run into both transient and nontransient people who have moved 
here because of medical marijuana and now because of the legalization 
of marijuana. I can tell you personally, I'm sure you have noticed 
this, too, but we smell it everywhere. Just everywhere," Rizk said 
recently while on the job downtown.

Michael, a 58-year-old homeless man who did not want to give his last 
name, agrees with Rizk that pot is prevalent.

"Pretty much everyone out here uses," he said on a recent warm day 
while resting in Monument Valley Park. "It's a new game. Now it's 
tough to get a cigarette. It used to be harder to get a buzz in this 
park than it was to get a cigarette. Now the shoe is on the other 
foot. It's tough to get a cigarette," he said.

"It seems like it's falling out of trees. I've found buds on the 
ground. It invaded the entire culture of the town."

In Colorado, anyone 21 and older can possess up to an ounce of pot. 
Medical marijuana cardholders get to have twice as much. Police Chief 
Pete Carey has had to equip officers with the right tool for the laws.

"Aside from some training issues, I had to purchase scales for our 
officers so they know exactly how much an ounce is when they stop 
somebody," Carey said. He bought 100 of them.

"If it's 28 grams or less, they give it back," Carey said, citing the 
equivalent of an ounce.

[sidebar]

About the series

The reporting team: editorial board members Pula Davis and Wayne 
Laugesen and local reporter Christine Tatum.

After the first year of recreational pot sales, The Gazette takes a 
comprehensive look at the unintended consequences of legalizing sales 
and use of recreational marijuana.

Day 1: Colorado has a fragile scheme for regulating legal marijuana 
and implementing a state drug prevention strategy.

Day 2: One of the suppositions about legalizing pot was that 
underground sales would be curtailed, but officials say there is 
evidence of a thriving black market.

Day 3: One teen's struggle to overcome his marijuana addiction shows 
how devastating the drug can be for younger, more vulnerable users. 
And employers face new workplace issues.

Day 4: Amid the hoopla about recreational marijuana sales, the 
medical marijuana industry is flourishing and has its own set of 
complicated concerns.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom