Pubdate: Thu, 17 Feb 2011
Source: Daily Times-Call, The (Longmont, CO)
Copyright: 2011, The Daily Times-Call
Contact:  http://www.timescall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1475

USE CARE IN MEDICAL POT SHOP DECISION

Anyone who believes that the medical marijuana industry is not being 
used as a source for recreational users is lying to himself.

That does not mean that all dispensaries operators are guilty or that 
there are not patients who use medical marijuana out of a real need 
for pain or nausea relief.

This leaves communities that have allowed medical marijuana shops, 
communities such as Longmont, in a quandary. Banning all shops 
changes the rules for taxpaying businesses that have been legally 
operating in the city and likely sends the shops' customers, 
legitimate or not, to an underground market. Allowing existing shops 
to remain open and shutting out new shops dictates the winners in 
this market and does not remove the distaste of a large number of 
residents for a city-sanctioned industry that sells a federally 
banned substance. Allowing dispensaries to proliferate increases the 
potential for abuse of this system by recreational users.

The Longmont City Council favors option No. 1, banning all medical 
marijuana dispensaries and associated grow operations. While that 
would be met with approval from a large number of Longmont residents, 
the council would be wise to think through the consequences before it acts.

Several concerns came out of the council's meeting last week, during 
which they voted 6-1 in favor of an outright ban. Among them, a 
concern that closing the existing shops might push the "industry" 
into private homes, where the city's control would be limited to 
responding to neighbor complaints, and where safety, environmental 
and geographic regulations would be nonexistent. Further, enforcement 
could become a nightmare, especially without clear direction to 
police about what the council expects.

No one envies the council the decisions it has in front of it. It 
must deal with the consequences of an amendment voted into the state 
constitution that left the messes to be cleaned up by lawmakers. But 
it should do so deliberately and soberly, no pun intended.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart