Pubdate: Thu, 06 May 2010 Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO) Copyright: 2010 The Gazette Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/ Website: http://www.gazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165 Author: Wayne Laugesen A POISON PILL IN THE MARIJUANA BILL The Colorado Senate is on the verge of foolishly adopting a medical marijuana bill that may transport parts of Colorado back to the days when pot was a street drug that enriched only criminals. Today, because of a constitutional amendment enacted by Colorado voters in 2000, criminal dealers of marijuana are struggling. That's because they must compete with above-board medical marijuana dispensaries that rent space on Main Street and are more than willing to pay taxes and fees and obey laws. Dispensary owners have clamored for reasonable regulation in order to keep the riffraff competition at bay. House Bill 1264, which received final Senate approval Thursday, is mostly a reasonable attempt to regulate and tax the new, flourishing and lucrative medical marijuana trade that's helping Colorado's economy and causing fewer problems than a lot of other retail sectors. It establishes a state licensing authority and a requirement for local approval of marijuana retailers. It eliminates kickbacks to physicians from marijuana sellers. It mandates closure of dispensaries at 7 p.m. That's all good. Then there's the poison pill, which is likely to result in a judge throwing the whole thing onto a scrap heap. The bill says local governments may pass resolutions "prohibiting" the cultivation or sale of medical marijuana. Of course, the whole reason they're talking marijuana at the statehouse is because of Amendment 20 of the Colorado Constitution - a law enacted specifically to forbid Colorado governments from interfering with the right to produce, possess or use medical marijuana. So is the bill unconstitutional? Absolutely, beyond question. A few wise Republicans and Democrats agree: "We have no statutory authority to carve out new exceptions to what is a constitutionally granted right," said liberal Sen. Morgan Carroll, an Aurora Democrat, as quoted in the Denver Post. Conservative Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield, was quoted in the Post saying: "Stomping the supply (of medical marijuana) out of existence is completely unfaithful with the constitutional policy of allowing its dispensing." The poison pill is a legislative pander to neighborhood fussbudgets and local government leaders who want more authority over individuals than the constitution allows. They justify the unconstitutional language with a song-and-dance about allowing "primary care providers" in any jurisdiction of Colorado, thus ensuring the public's right to obtain the drug. In the unlikely event that loophole saves the bill from judicial annihilation, it may result in small-time dealers on every block in those communities that prohibit dispensaries. That's because the bill says a primary care provider, who is neither physician nor dispensary, may have only five patients. The patient limitation makes caregiver a part-time job that's best conducted out of a home. Cities and counties that prohibit the storefront seller will create high demand for stay-at-home caregivers. At that point, as patients come and go from the homes of their residential drug dealers, the old strip-mall dispensary will look pretty good. Legislators, come to your senses. Lose the unconstitutional language in reconciliation before creating a law the courts are likely to reject. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart