Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jul 2016
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: CannaBiz
Copyright: 2016 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Nat Stein

MARIJUANA INDUSTRY CHEATS DEATH WITH CLEVER POLITICAL TACTIC

A statewide ballot initiative aimed at Colorado's legal cannabis 
industry disintegrated on July 8, much to the chagrin of its 
proponents and relief of opponents.

Amendment 139, which would've effectively taken 80 percent of 
products off dispensaries' shelves, had scored approvals from the 
state Title Board, Colorado Supreme Court and Secretary of State's 
Office. But, according to backers' withdrawal announcement, the task 
of gathering 98,492 valid signatures by Aug. 8 became nearly 
impossible when, they alleged, industry-funded opposition "[bought] 
off signature gatherers to keep the initiative from moving forward."

First, a little background. Why did Colorado's "marijuana moguls" - 
or, those with a stake in the survival of the industry as termed by 
their ill-wishers - consider Amendment 139 an existential threat?

Chiefly, it was because of a potency limit the ballot question would 
have written into Colorado's constitution. As it is, marijuana 
products come in all different strengths and are all dosed and 
labeled as such. Amendment 139 would have ordered the Legislature to 
cap it at 16 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, otherwise known as 
the stuff that gets you high).

One such "mogul," Denver-based attorney Rob Corry, explained in a 
Huffington Post op-ed: "Imagine if Colorado's alcohol industry, 
consisting of bars, restaurants, taverns, saloons, clubs, cabarets, 
stadiums, concert or entertainment venues, liquor stores, 
manufacturers, weddings, parties, receptions, and even your own 
personal liquor cabinet, were all legally-limited only to alcohol 
with 16.0% potency. No more legal vodka, whiskey, bourbon, tequila, 
gin, and so forth. It would make only beer and wine legal in Colorado."

That kind of policy, Corry continued, would be both "insane" and 
"unachievable" for the same reason alcohol prohibition was. 
Higher-potency cannabis would just migrate back into the black 
market. And in trying to comply with the law, growers would need 
years to rebreed the genetics of their plants - likely shutting down 
businesses, costing thousands of jobs and drying up millions in tax revenue.

Amendment 139 also would've mandated dire-sounding warnings on 
product packaging, most notably including "permanent loss of brain 
abilities" as an identified health risk.

To an industry verging on its stigma going extinct, those regulations 
- - some of which are already in place - sound more like a death wish 
than well-meaning safeguards. That's why advocates jumped to arms, 
pouring $248,000 into the newly formed Colorado Health Research 
Council (CHRC) as of June 27, according to filings with the Secretary 
of State's Office.

Total expenditures since its inception amount to $33,133.96, mostly 
going to a Virginia-based law firm for a Colorado Supreme Court 
review of proposed language, catering and filing fees.

"They stalled as long as they could, then used financial muscle to 
shut down the very process by which [Amendment] 64 got on the 
ballot," spokeswoman for the pro-139 committee Patricia Ross told the 
Indy. "We were getting the last of our money Wednesday evening when 
we found out one of the last paid signature gathering firms signed a 
non-compete agreement with [CHRC]."

CHRC didn't return requests for comment by press time, but Ross says, 
"It must've been quite a sum because we were ready to pay hundreds of 
thousands."

So, did "Big Marijuana [...] negate Colorado's grassroots petitions 
process," as a July 8 Gazette editorial claimed?

Depends what you consider "grassroots," of course. Regardless, the 
tactic was so effective that Ross wants her group to consider asking 
the Legislature to prohibit it.

But, as policymakers may well be aware at this point, outlawing 
something won't necessarily make it go away.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom