Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2012
Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan (CO)
Copyright: 2012 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: Kevin Duggan

REACTIONS MIXED FROM VETERANS OF FORT COLLINS MEDICAL MARIJUANA EFFORT

A proposal to legalize the possession and use of marijuana that is
headed to the state ballot in November drew mixed reactions from
veterans of the medical marijuana war in Fort Collins.

The measure calls for regulating marijuana in ways similar to how
alcohol is regulated, including allowing sales in special stores.

Communities would have the option of banning the businesses.

Under the measure, people who are at least 21 years old could possess
up to an ounce of marijuana. They could grow up to six plants in their
homes.

The state needs consistent laws about marijuana, said Michelle Tucker,
owner of the closed dispensary Medicinal Gardens of Colorado.

But the use of alcohol and marijuana are not comparable from a medical
perspective, she said.

"We need to make sure that the state and every city are on the same
page," she said. "The genie is out of the bottle and it's not going
back in."

The production of alcohol is heavily regulated because it is a
consumer product, said Scoot Crandall, executive director of the
anti-substance abuse coalition TEAM Fort Collins. That includes health
inspections of production facilities and regulation of
ingredients.

The marijuana industry may not be up for that kind of scrutiny, he
said.

"If this passes, they might find they have bitten off more than they
can chew," he said.

Crandall was among the vocal supporters of the ban on medical
marijuana businesses Fort Collins voters approved last year.

Ken Correia, who owned the medical marijuana dispensary Solace Meds,
said he needed to research the proposal to better understand its
ramifications.

But a major issue is likely to be how the federal government would
react if the measure is approved, he said. Marijuana possession and
use are illegal under federal law.

"I think we need to work on this at the federal level," he
said.

Crandall said the conflict between state and federal law on marijuana
has to be rectified at some point.

"Until that happens - and there's no indication the feds are going to
move away from making it a schedule one substance - this seems kind of
silly," he said.
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