DURANGO (AP) - Students at Fort Lewis College want the penalty for smoking pot to be the same as the punishment for underage drinking.

A student group at the Durango school is asking for a change to policies about marijuana. Students who violate alcohol policies now are given "three strikes" before they're suspended or kicked out of housing. But there is no "three strikes" analogy for students caught using pot illegally.

"We believe marijuana is safer than alcohol and should be treated that way," said senior Marissa Williams, president of a pro-marijuana group called SAFER.

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Medicinal Gardens of Colorado is not your average Fort Collins retail shop.

It's tucked away in a stone cottage on the east edge of the parking lot of the Carriage House Complex, 420 S. Howes St., with a modest sign showing its location.

To get in, customers have to be "buzzed" through a locked door after being checked out via a video camera.

Once inside, a client - or patient, as the business prefers to refer to its customers - must check in at a reception desk and prove his or her legal right to be in the store and to move on to the "medication room."

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If federal authorities in the future prosecute Colorado's medical cannibis growers and wholesalers, the state could pay to defend them in court under a provision unveiled Sunday by state Sen. Chris Romer at a Denver medical-marijuana health fair.

Romer, a Denver Democrat who is proposing legislation to regulate the budding industry, wants to use a database to track growers and their plants for health safety and law-enforcement purposes.

But growers have operated for decades under the radar and need assurances before divulging identifying information that could later be used against them, Romer said.

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The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2008, there were 847,863 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis.

The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where there is a policy of tolerance regarding marijuana. An admitted former pot smoker, President Obama has thus far maintained the prohibition status quo rather than pursue change. Would Barack Obama be in the White House if he had been convicted of a marijuana offense in his youth?

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State Sen. Chris Romer, a Denver Democrat, has assumed a daunting task. He's trying to figure out a means to regulate what appears to be Colorado's fastest-growing business right now: medical marijuana.

We applaud him for doing so. It's an industry that has blossomed rapidly this year, thanks to a state court ruling and a federal decision on law enforcement. And there is virtually nothing that says who may dispense medical marijuana or under what circumstances they may do so.

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Still Another Drug Of Abuse, So Weigh The Consequences

Marijuana certainly has been in the news lately. My goal here is not to question whether marijuana should be legalized, or to claim that it has no medical benefits or to suggest that I have the answers to the many problems that it poses. There are some reasonable arguments for legalization of marijuana. It is still, however, another drug of abuse. Many supporters of marijuana legalization claim it is safer than cigarettes and causes fewer problems than alcohol abuse. Marijuana may be safer and cheaper than opiates and other medications used for cancer patients.

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Wellness and natural healing are the keys to a healthy lifestyle.

At least, that's what a new Windsor business believes.

A New Dawn Wellness Clinic, 520 1/2 Main St., opened its doors last week and offers a variety of natural remedies for what ails you.

"My belief is that what God gave us here on Earth works," said owner Greg. He requested his last name not be used for confidentiality purposes.

A New Dawn offers several holistic remedies, including medical cannabis.

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AURORA - A lawsuit filed last week against the city of Centennial for shutting down a medical marijuana dispensary there could have lasting effects on cities like Aurora that have barred dispensaries, the lawyer representing the Centennial marijuana patients said this week.

The suit, filed last week in Arapahoe County District Court, argues that Centennial erred when the city forced a medical marijuana dispensary, Cannamart, to close its doors in October.

There is a stark difference between the Centennial case and Aurora's handling of dispensaries. Centennial allowed a dispensary to open and even collected sales tax from the dispensary before ordering it closed. In Aurora, officials have simply denied business licenses for all dispensaries and last month city council passed a moratorium on any future dispensary applications.

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Despite the legal uncertainties surrounding medical-marijuana dispensaries, Steve Horo witz is plowing ahead with Colorado's first marijuana restaurant.

Ganja Gourmet, a restaurant that serves pot-laced food, has opened at 1810 S. Broadway in a building that Horowitz owns.

In addition to the "Bud Bar," where marijuana leaves are sold to licensed consumers, Ganja Gourmet offers lasagna, pizza, hummus, brownies, fudge and a variety of cheesecakes. Since the building does not have a kitchen, all menu items are cooked in a rented commercial kitchen and reheated in the restaurant's microwave.

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Marijuana. Most people see it as a recreational drug and are skeptical of its tangible, medical benefits for patients with chronic pain, including those whose use of prescribed narcotics often leaves them vulnerable to addiction.

Take, for instance, Janice Beecher. A Coloradan since 1968, she suffers from osteoarthritis and chronic back pain. Until recently, she had to take as much as four oxycodone just to make it through the day. Fortunately for her, a permit to use marijuana legally allows her to live without debilitating pain to go days without taking this highly addictive drug.

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Re: George Will's column, "Rocky Mountain High"

Mr Will's rant about Coloradoans who flout its medical marijuana law today reminded me of prohibitionists' rants about Americans who continued to drink after 1920, when National Prohibition (of alcohol) began.

In 1920, Americans began to suffer a curious epidemic of illnesses that all required alcohol. "Medicinal alcohol" hypocrisy was as offensive to prohibitionists then as "medical marijuana" hypocrisy is today. It was so offensive that federal legislation required that industrial alcohol be denatured by adding wood alcohol, acetone or benzene, and NOT labeling the containers as poison.

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The Cherry Creek North shopping district conjures up images of boutique buying, tress de-stresser hairdressers, hip eateries and pesky parking meters.

But a medical-marijuana dispensary thrown into that mix of tenants? What is landlord Aaron LaPedis smoking?

"I just started to entertain maybe renting out my empty space to a medical-marijuana dispensary," he said about the empty storefront with the "for lease" sign at 313 Detroit St. "If it's legal and upscale, and they don't make my windows look horrible, I have no issue with it."

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Former strip-club owner Lance Migliaccio pleaded guilty Wednesday to five felony counts of possessing Ecstasy with the intent of distributing the drug and faces five years in prison as part of the plea agreement.

Migliaccio, who once owned La Boheme in Denver, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn on March 5.

Migliaccio's indictment included charges that he possessed powerful military-grade explosives along with the drug allegations, but prosecutors intend to dismiss the weapons charges as part of the plea agreement.

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It's good that a state senator is taking on the issue of medical marijuana regulation, but we question the legislation's details.

State Sen. Chris Romer has crafted a 63-page bill that attempts to throw a regulatory harness on the blossoming medical marijuana industry.

We appreciate the hard work that went into creating the bill, but our first reaction is to question whether it really ought to be so complex.

Romer's draft bill would create three classes of clinic and grower licenses; it would create a medical marijuana review board to look at requests from those younger than 21; and it would allow some medical professionals, such as registered nurses, to become medical marijuana caregivers.

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The Summit County Sheriff's Office would like to thank Downstairs at Eric's, Windy City Pizza, City Market Breckenridge and Walmart for their continued support and contributions to the Summit County Sheriff's Office D.A.R.E. program. The support and donations from local businesses like these enable this valuable program to continue in local schools. This year the Silverthorne Recreation Center also donated two punch card passes for two students, and the Snowboard Outreach Society (S.O.S.) donated one of two snowboard lesson/ski packages. On behalf of these kids.Thank You! Gracias!

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DENVER - A state lawmaker from Denver is proposing stricter regulations on medical marijuana providers and patients.

Sen. Chris Romer says about half of Colorado's dispensaries could be driven out of business by the legislation he's drafting.

The bill would allow dispensaries and growers to be licensed by both the state and local jurisdictions. The Denver Democrat says they should have to show they won't be harmful to the surrounding community.

Romer wants stricter state rules on who is permitted to use medical marijuana. He also says doctors who are paid by dispensaries shouldn't be allowed to also clear patients to use medical marijuana.

Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation, a dispensary trade group, opposes the bill in its current form.

[end]

An ordinance with guidelines to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits was unanimously passed by Rifle City Council members at the regular Nov. 18 city council meeting. The ordinance puts restrictions on where medical marijuana can be sold and the hours of operation, but eliminates a previous provision prohibiting a picture of a marijuana leaf on a dispensary sign.

However, it is still required that any sign with the word "marijuana," "cannabis" or any other word or phrase commonly understood to refer to marijuana be prefaced by the word "medical" in accordance with the Colorado law that was approved by voters in 2000.

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Four More Could Follow

BRECKENRIDGE - Breckenridge's first medical marijuana dispensary opened recently, and four more could be setting up shop soon.

Medicine Man, LLC, started doing business Nov. 24 near the intersection of Main Street and Ski Hill Road.

The business upstairs at 101 N. Main Street complies with the town's specific location guidelines that prohibit such dispensaries from opening near schools, near solely residential properties or on a downtown ground floor.

Dispensary employee Josh Hopson said town staff were easy to work with, but neighbors had a few complaints - including concern about the unmistakable odor of marijuana.

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Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store -- which is what it really is -- involve medicine.

The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana. Since Justice's decision, the average age of the 400 persons a day seeking "prescriptions" at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.

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Fort Collins will "take a breather" in dealing with medical marijuana dispensaries while it sorts out how to regulate the fast-growing industry.

The City Council voted 6-1 in favor of an ordinance imposing a moratorium on issuing sales tax licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries, or MMDs. The moratorium will begin Dec. 11 and run through March 31.

Council members said the city needs time to research issues surrounding MMDs and the rules that should be applied to them through zoning and other forms of regulation, council members said.

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