Pubdate: Sun, 1 Nov 2009
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2009 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Lance Benzel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)

MEDICAL POT SUPPORTERS WARY OF POLICE TACTICS

Police Say Marijuana Rules Not Clear

Colorado Springs police accept that medical marijuana is "here to 
stay," in the words of spokesman Lt. David Whitlock.

But recent statements from some of the top cops in El Paso County 
make medical marijuana supporters wonder: Are police and prosecutors 
pushing to extinguish medical pot at a time when federal authorities 
appear closer than ever to recognizing it as a legitimate medicine?

Brian Vicente, of Sensible Colorado, a prominent Colorado medical 
marijuana advocacy group, said many medical pot growers support the 
city's recent call for "common-sense" regulations for marijuana 
dispensaries, such as limiting advertisements and keeping them away 
from schools.

But he said that discussion of the issue in Colorado Springs is 
marred by rhetoric painting medical pot as a magnet for crime, a 
charge he claims is grounded more in "hysteria" than reality.

"I'd love to see some hard data when they say that medical marijuana 
is fostering crime," Vicente said.

The Colorado Springs City Council took up the prospect of regulating 
dispensaries only days after the Department of Justice announced that 
federal authorities would no longer target state-sanctioned growers 
of medical pot.

As part of the discussions, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard 
Myers and Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May provided an 
overview of their problems with pot dispensaries. They cited a 
laundry list of concerns from robberies to the potential for abuse of 
medical pot.

The city is not alone in grappling with the state's medical marijuana 
trade, established in 2000 after voters approved Amendment 20.

On Friday, Summit County commissioners ordered a four-month 
moratorium on new dispensaries until they determine how to regulate 
the business.

In the absence of state law governing dispensaries, other communities 
have turned to code enforcement.  Aurora, for example, bans 
dispensaries outright, saying that pot is illegal under federal law, 
and therefore violates municipal codes.

Leaders in Colorado Springs signaled Monday that the city would take 
a similar stand and rely on code enforcers to shutter problematic 
dispensaries while a special task force mulls long-term regulations. 
In the meantime, medical marijuana advocates protest signs that the 
city could take a hard line against the medical marijuana business.

In a tone that some advocates saw as alarmist, May warned the City 
Council of home invasion robberies and "a half-dozen" burglaries tied 
to dispensaries, and suggested that Amendment 20 is being exploited 
by unethical doctors and drug dealers who are abusing the mantle of 
"caregiver" to conduct illegal sales in the open.

Police records show there have been eight burglaries and one robbery 
this year at the city's 24 medical marijuana dispensaries, Whitlock 
said. That's a tiny portion of those crimes in Colorado Springs 
where, in the first half of 2009 alone, there were 1,659 burglaries 
and 258 robberies, police statistics show.

Whitlock declined to provide details about crimes at the city's 
dispensaries, saying he didn't want to invite criminals to such 
"target-rich" environments.  Police this week also declined a 
Colorado Open Records Act request for the addresses of pot 
dispensaries for the same reason.

Vicente, of Sensible Colorado, countered that the same "anecdotal 
evidence" could be invoked to attack liquor stores and pharmacies as 
havens for crime. They, too, are routinely targeted by criminals, he said.

"People realize that pharmacies are needed in the community, and 
they're selling drugs that are far more dangerous than marijuana," he said.

Others took aim at May's reference to a local doctor who was arrested 
in September on suspicion of arranging what amounts to a pot 
prescription for an undercover cop for $300 in cash.

The suspect, Dr. Peter W.S. Grigg of Colorado Springs, was already 
facing a federal indictment in Denver on unrelated allegations that 
he was dealing Ecstasy and writing prescriptions for OxyContin, a 
powerful painkiller, records show.

For critics like Robert Corry Jr., a Denver defense attorney and 
medical pot advocate, Grigg's case says more about the dangers of a 
rogue physician than the shortcomings of Colorado's medical marijuana laws.

"For him to use that as an example just smacks of desperation," Corry said.

In a presentation to El Paso County commissioners a day after the 
City Council meeting, Sheriff Terry Maketa warned that lax regulation 
could foster "mega-growing facilities" and breed a new "black market" for pot.

"That's absurd," Corry said. "There's already a black market for 
marijuana, and Sheriff Maketa and other law enforcement officials 
can't do anything to shut it down. They've certainly tried."

Supporters of Amendment 20 counter that pot dispensaries tend to 
undercut illegal traffic, by providing safe and open access to 
marijuana rather than driving medical marijuana patients to deal with 
street gangs and other dangerous elements.

Whitlock said that Chief Myers was "adamant" in his presentation to 
City Council: Police are not out to abolish the dispensaries.

Instead, he said, police want concrete guidelines from state and 
local lawmakers that make it easier to separate legitimate marijuana 
providers from run-of-the-mill drug dealers.

"This is not about medical marijuana and Amendment 20.  The people 
have spoken, and that's here to stay," Whitlock said. "What it is 
about is coming up with some sort or rule, some sort of set of 
guidelines where we can do a better job of protecting the product 
that they're trying to dispense."

Deputy District Attorney Dan Zook said prosecutors, too, want 
lawmakers to address questions surrounding medical pot.

"That's our duty - to present to the city the problems we're seeing 
from the DA's point of view," he said.  "They are the ones who 
determine what their steps should be in terms of regulation and outlawing."

Roger Ronas, a medical marijuana user in Colorado Springs, said the 
police focus on isolated problems with dispensaries shows they 
haven't given up their war on pot.

"Those are the abuses," said Ronas, who said he needs marijuana to 
treat complications of kidney failure, among other ailments. "Well, 
there's always going to be abuses with any system, and they know that."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake