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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom