Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jun 2013
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165

LEGALIZED POT COULD COST SPRINGS ECONOMY

As Pentagon officials mull a decision that could help or harm 
Colorado Springs, the choice by Colorado voters to legalize pot could 
prove costly. Public officials must, like never before, work to keep 
soldiers off drugs.

Looming budget cuts will force the Pentagon to cut Army personnel by 
80,000. If all goes well for the Springs, the cuts will cause a 
realignment of operations that would relocate roughly 3,000 soldiers 
to Fort Carson. That means our community would benefit from 3,000 
additional taxpaying consumers, along with their families, who will 
boost the local economy.

Another of the Pentagon's options would result in a loss of 8,000 
Fort Carson soldiers, a move that would only depress the housing 
market and harm other aspects of the economy.

Colorado Springs should roll out the red carpet as an invitation for 
more of the men and women who make up the world's best army. City, 
county and state leaders must show federal officials the benefits of 
doing more business in Colorado Springs, where community leaders and 
a majority of taxpayers understand the value of investing in our 
troops. Make clear the fact Colorado Springs respects the Army, wants 
more of it and is proud to call itself a military town.

While we're at it, let's make one other thing perfectly clear: 
Colorado Springs is not a bastion of marijuana abuse and has no plan 
to become such a place. A majority in our community, including nearly 
all elected officials, desire to control marijuana consumption in 
unprecedented fashion.

Maj. Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of Fort Carson and the 4th 
Infantry Division, has told local officials that legal pot raises 
serious concerns for the Army. He told Mayor Steve Bach the decision 
by voters to legalize "goes against good order and discipline."

We understand and respect his concern. One can intuitively deduce 
that voters who legalize pot want more of it.

But most Coloradans do not use marijuana and did not vote for more 
abuse. A great number voted to legalize because they hoped doing so 
would promote more order and discipline. After a well-funded campaign 
in favor of legalization, they voted for regulation, taxation and 
monitoring of sales that had long flourished underground in a black 
market that made the drug widely available to military and civilian 
populations.

Regardless of one's stand on legalization, nearly all should hope it 
will lead to more order and discipline. Illegal sales are covert and 
disordered by nature. When successful, these transactions remain 
undetected, unregulated and unpunished.

A successful legal trade could - key word could - nearly eliminate 
the underground market, much like undoing prohibition of alcohol 
choked out most bootleggers. Black markets seldom survive legal 
competition because few consumers will risk prosecution when given 
legal options to obtain the same product. Black market prices, even 
without the burden of taxation, are intrinsically high and 
noncompetitive because sellers assume costs and risks that are passed 
on to customers as overhead. The costs of operating illegally can 
easily surpass reasonable taxes on legal transactions.

If legal sales supplant black market sales, as proponents promised, 
marijuana transactions will become easier to watch. State authorities 
have the ability to monitor sales. Instead of trying to detect back 
alley and basement-dwelling criminals, they will monitor licensed 
sellers who operate in store fronts in view of cameras.

A legal, taxed and regulated environment gives local politicians the 
opportunity to create severe penalties for anyone who sells or 
otherwise provides marijuana to military personnel. Think about 
liquor stores and bars, which suffer severe consequences when caught 
selling alcohol to minors or customers who have overimbibed.

Imagine city and county ordinances - even a state law - that forbid 
selling or providing marijuana to military personnel. Sellers could 
protect themselves by asking for IDs and requiring customers to sign 
waivers that declare no employment with any branch of military. 
Perjurers would face civil and military consequences; sellers who 
don't demand waivers would risk penalties if caught selling to 
military personnel.

Like all laws, a ban on sales to military would not be fully 
enforceable. It could be more enforceable than efforts to regulate 
underground sales, as criminals never ask for IDs or waivers and 
avoid doing business in plain view.

Gen. LaCamera, we hear your concern and share it. Colorado Springs 
cannot and will not become a place in which soldiers have easy access 
to pot. We urge all politicians and their constituents to create laws 
in compliance with the state constitution, whatever they may be, that 
make marijuana less available to children and military personnel. 
Let's not make statements, let's get results. Let's destroy the 
black-market pot trade and empower law enforcement to make our region 
the hardest place on earth for those who defend our country to obtain 
marijuana. It's in the best interest of our community and our nation's defense.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom