Now that the Glenwood Springs City Council has unequivocally denied (6-1) the two marijuana retail outlets in the downtown core, a 14th Amendment issue of "equal protection" and "due process" has emerged in regards to a liquor license application made by the Eagles Saloon located on Seventh Street. The public hearing for the renewal of the saloon's liquor license is scheduled for 2 p.m. July 8 at City Hall. Based upon the equal protection clause when juxtaposed with the logic in the council's decision to deny Green Dragon and Recreational Releaf Dispensary Bar; (that the community is "already well served" and additional retail outlets of marijuana will "damage the family atmosphere of GWS") establishes a de facto constitutional rights precedent whereby the City Council must now deny the Eagles Saloon liquor license application because Seventh Street is "already well served" with on-site liquor sales next door to the Eagles Saloon: The Riviera, Juicy Lucy's, the Pullman and the Hotel Denver. [continues 155 words]
This letter is written in response to the Jan. 2 article in the Post Independent regarding the potential of local Garfield County farmers to grow hemp as a cash crop and subsequent hemp value-added products for economic development and local jobs creation. As reporter John Colson points out, in the 1930s, the federal government placed marijuana on a list of banned drugs and because hemp has similar characteristics of marijuana, the feds cannot discern the difference between the two plants in a drive-by inspection. Therefore the DEA will never allow the economic development benefits of growing hemp to be deployed by local Garfield County farmers. [continues 233 words]
