Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jun 2013
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Column: Weed Between the Lines
Copyright: 2013 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

EMERGENCY RULE KEEPS CANNABIS MAGAZINES ON THE SHELVES

Probably the strangest paragraph in Colorado's first attempt to 
regulate marijuana was the one that stipulated that "magazines whose 
primary focus is marijuana or marijuana businesses are only sold in 
retail marijuana stores or behind the counter in establishments where 
persons under 21 years of age are present."

Yes, you read that correctly. Magazines about pot like High Times 
would have to be hidden behind the counter alongside Gallery or Gent, 
with the astounding caveat that anyone under 21 could purchase the 
magazines in question - but he or she couldn't look at it in the 
store. And I say "was" because it was rendered moot rather quickly 
and efficiently.

The statute was a last-minute, Hail-Mary insertion from Rep. Bob 
Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, who was apparently among the 40 percent 
of the state's voters who didn't approve Amendment 64. "The idea is 
that we need to keep marijuana out of the hands of children. That we 
don't want to encourage the use, we want to discourage the use by 
children," Gardner told CBSNews in Denver while the bills were being 
debated. "Let me emphasize these publications are not banned. They're 
not prohibited. Their marketing is being controlled."

Never mind that kids can see the same marijuana ads in their own 
homes, right here in the back pages of Boulder Weekly, the Denver 
Post and other newspapers and magazines. If Smart Colorado, a group 
that wants to discourage teenage pot use, put out a magazine, would 
it be illegal since its "primary focus would be marijuana?" As 
written, it just didn't make any sense.

Given that there are lawyers among our legislators, I'm guessing that 
the "treat pot magazines like pornography" reg was allowed to go 
through knowing it would be legally indefensible but necessary to get 
these rules and regulations passed within the strict timeline set by 
the amendment.

It didn't take long for the hammer to come down. The regulations were 
signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday, May 28. The 
next day, making good on an earlier threat after the legislature 
first passed the regulations, David Lane, the civil rights attorney 
who represented Ward Churchill in his case against CU, filed a 
lawsuit in federal court, representing High Times, The Daily Doobie 
and The Hemp Connoisseur, all three operating within the law in 
Colorado and claiming, not surprisingly, that it was a violation of 
their right to free speech. Unspoken was that in the case of the 
Doobie and the Connoisseur, the regulation would probably be a nail 
in the coffins of their respective businesses.

On Tuesday, June 4, another lawsuit, Tattered Cover v. Brohl, was 
filed by the ACLU of Colorado and Media Coalition Inc. on behalf of 
the Tattered Cover, Boulder Book Store, Magpies Newsstand in Durango, 
Book Train in Glenwood Springs, Woody's Newsstand in Greeley, Al's 
Newsstand in Fort Collins, American Booksellers Foundation for Free 
Expression, and Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers 
Association, all businesses that would be affected by the new regulation.

On Thursday, two days after the second lawsuit, the Marijuana 
Enforcement Division called the provision unconstitutional and said 
it wouldn't enforce it. Attorney General John Suthers concurred and 
issued an emergency rule. "No magazine whose primary focus is 
marijuana or marijuana businesses is required to be sold only in 
retail marijuana stores or behind the counter in establishments where 
persons under 21 years of age are present, because such a requirement 
would violate the United States Constitution, the Colorado 
Constitution, and section 24-4-103(4) (a.5)(IV), C.R.S.," the rule said.

That's pretty clear. Federal Judge Richard Matsch thought so, too, 
and he wisely rejected the state's call for the dismissal of the 
lawsuits. Matsch gave the state until the end of the month to respond to those.

The attempt to create a set of rules and regulations to treat 
marijuana like alcohol in Colorado is in its earliest stages. In this 
case, the checks and balance system worked the way it should. The 
legislature overreached, and the Attorney General's office stepped 
in. Look for many more course corrections like this along the way.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom