A woman spotted my 2-year-old daughter and me entering the Port-O-Potty she'd just left at the Journey concert in Snowmass on Sunday night and warned me, "You'd better not take your little girl in there." "Oh, mercy," I thought, shuddering to imagine what she was implying, and knowing full well that each time I enter a public outhouse, it's a voyage into the unknown. "It smells like pot. But it wasn't me," she said and sauntered off. [continues 536 words]
[name redacted] Pleads Guilty To Reduced Charges ASPEN - An Aspen man arrested in December on drug-possession and drunken-driving charges told a judge Monday that he regards the incident as a "life changing" moment. [name redacted], 45, also said he plans to stay "clean and sober" and work on rebuilding the trust he had established as a community volunteer and teacher at Aspen Middle School. "I just want to apologize to everybody affected by my poor decisions," [name redacted] said. [continues 471 words]
ASPEN -- A Woody Creek writer could have to show he was acting in the capacity as a media member if he wants to avoid testifying before a grand jury later this month. Members of the Drug Enforcement Administration issued Michael Cleverly a court subpoena Tuesday at his home. He is due to appear in front of a federal grand jury on July 25 as part of a witness-tampering investigation, launched after an Aspen Times article reported on an email that had been circulating with the photo of an alleged confidential source who provided integral information to the DEA's probe into a drug ring believed to have spanned between Los Angeles and Aspen. [continues 830 words]
ASPEN -- A judge on Monday rejected a 23-year-old man's plea to use marijuana for medicinal purposes while he serves probation for a drug-related conviction in Aspen. Nathan Benner's attorney, Joseph Saint-Veltri of Denver, had argued that he should be able to take marijuana to help him cope with his ongoing shoulder pain. Saint-Veltri pointed to Colorado's Amendment 20, passed by voters in 2000, which allows the use of medicinal marijuana. He said marijuana is a healthier, less addictive choice for Benner to deal with his shoulder pain than opiates, which a physician has also recommended for treatment. [continues 341 words]
The separation of bank and dank is now complete. Alpine Bank's lawsuit against Alpine Dank and its founder was quietly dismissed last month in the U.S. District Court of Denver. The dismissal comes after the Glenwood Springs-based bank, which has locations throughout the Western Slope, sued Alpine Dank and Jeffrey Lessard for trademark violation and other federal claims, alleging the marijuana dispensary had created confusion in the marketplace. "I think they just recognized it was futile to try and do anything against a registered trademark," said Bob Young, chairman of Alpine Banks, on Wednesday. "We didn't want to be identified closely with a medical-marijuana shop and they [Alpine Dank and Lessard] didn't feel like pursuing it and elected to go another way." [continues 483 words]
ASPEN - The seemingly fragile relationship between the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and local-law enforcement departments was addressed in a private meeting Wednesday in the office of Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo, with little headway being made. A special agent with the DEA, along with DiSalvo and Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor, said they failed to find any common ground, other than re-affirming that their long-standing drug-enforcement philosophies are starkly opposed. In other words, the next time the DEA penetrates Pitkin County to make an arrest, the Sheriff's Office likely won't be called on to help because the federal agency doesn't trust it. [continues 1334 words]
Bank Says Pot Shop Has Sullied Its Name. ASPEN -- Alpine Banks might be in the business of dealing green, but not the kind sold by Alpine Dank. And that's why the Glenwood Springs-based financial institution, which runs banks throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and Western Slope, wants to snuff out the Alpine Dank name. On Friday, Alpine Banks of Colorado filed a lawsuit in Denver federal court against Alpine Dank and its founder, Jeffery Lessard of Basalt and Telluride. Alpine Banks claims that Lessard has created confusion in the marketplace with the Alpine Dank name, and seeks a court injunction to stop Lessard from using the marijuana-inspired moniker. [continues 755 words]
ASPEN -- A judge ruled Monday that a local man convicted of a felony drug charge cannot use marijuana for medicinal purposes, although he has a state registry card allowing him to do so. Judge James Boyd took up the topic during a sentencing hearing in Pitkin County District Court in Aspen for Keith Timothy Pfeiffer, who pleaded guilty Feb. 8 to attempted distribution of cocaine. Boyd said the issue is a "troubling one for the court," and his remark and ruling come at a time when judges across Colorado are grappling with the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws. An amendment to the state constitution permits marijuana to be used for certain medical purposes. [continues 514 words]
Jose Rodriguez's solution to the pot problem fails to address several issues. ("High time to legalize it," Feb. 20.) The solution to drug abuse will not come as a result of legalizing pot or any other drug. The culture we are in must first be changed to reject drug abuse. We have made major inroads into stemming tobacco use. Those programs will be for naught if we attempt to legalize pot. Coddling addicts and implementing harm reduction programs will only perpetuate the problem. If we want to get serious about stopping drug abuse, we must consider solutions offered by other countries. Executing pushers and caning users may seem draconian but it has virtually eliminated drug abuse in Singapore and the associated costs caused by addicts preying on the public. Their policing costs are a fraction of ours and they spend much more on treatment programs than we do and with better results. Patrick Carroll (We don't even execute murderers!) [end]
