Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2011 Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan (CO) Copyright: 2011 The Fort Collins Coloradoan Contact: http://www.coloradoan.com/customerservice/contactus.html Website: http://www.coloradoan.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1580 Author: Josh Ritter NO TO DISPENSARIES Retailers' presence has altered Fort Collins' character; let the voters decide The voters of Fort Collins deserve a chance to decide for themselves whether they want commercial, for-profit marijuana distributors in their town. In 2000, Colorado voters amended the state Constitution to decriminalize possession of limited amounts of marijuana for individuals with a debilitating medical condition, and for those patients' primary caregivers. What Amendment 20 did not do was authorize the retail sale of marijuana. The text of the amendment specifically excluded distribution from its protections. The "Blue Book," mailed by the state Legislature to registered voters before the election, assured that "under state criminal law, it will still be illegal to sell marijuana." >From 2000 to 2008, this patient-caregiver model worked relatively well. It stayed true to the intent of the voters, and abuse of the system was reasonably limited. The number of registered patients grew modestly from 512 in 2004 to 4,720 in 2008. Then came the dispensaries. Almost overnight, they popped up in response to a 2009 change in federal drug-enforcement policy. Rather than keeping their Blue-Book promise to the voters that sales of marijuana would remain illegal, our state representatives and unelected regulatory officers accommodated the dispensaries. They passed laws and regulatory codes allowing commercial marijuana distributors to do business. Our City Council had the opportunity to opt out of the new profit-based system, but chose not to. In Amendment 20, voters authorized seriously ill patients to possess up to six live plants. Today, a "marijuana-infused product manufacturer" can have up to 500 live plants at a single location (and can apply to the state for a waiver to grow even more!) At precisely the same time, the number of registered patients skyrocketed. In 2010, our state counted 68,868. Most list the unverifiable condition of "chronic pain." It does not take a hardened cynic to wonder at the epidemic of "chronic pain" that has afflicted our state in the wake of commercial dispensaries. Locally, Fort Collins has felt a significant impact from the dispensary explosion. Marijuana-related crimes in Larimer County increased 20 percent from 2009 to 2010. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office has a backlog of over 60 reported marijuana grows that they have not had the resources to investigate. Poudre School District has seen drug-related expulsions triple since 2008. Much of this was foreseeable. Any for-profit retailer has to market its product in order to survive. Today, a person cannot drive down College Avenue without seeing multiple signs unabashedly advertizing the sale of marijuana. Many dispensary storefronts look as innocent as a health spa. It is no wonder that drug abuse among our youth has increased so dramatically between the normalizing impact of the dispensaries' marketing and the increased availability of their product. The presence of dispensaries is so fundamentally transformative of the character of our town that the people themselves should be entitled to decide whether or not it is a change they want. That is why Concerned Fort Collins Citizens are now circulating petitions asking for a special election this November. Our proposed ordinance would have no impact whatsoever on Amendment 20, and simply seeks to restore the status quo to what we believe Colorado voters intended. Petitions are available for signing through July 17 at: Illustrated Light, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; Reader's Cove, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday; Harmony Presbyterian Church 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:15 a.m.-noon Friday. Josh Ritter, a deputy district attorney, wrote this on behalf of Concerned Fort Collins Citizens, a group of residents supporting an initiative banning medical marijuana dispensaries in Fort Collins. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt