Pubdate: Mon, 07 Oct 2013
Source: Vail Daily (CO)
Copyright: 2013 Vail Daily
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wo3Ts7AI
Website: http://www.vaildaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3233
Author: Buddy Sims

WHERE WILL THE TOURISTS SMOKE?

Several Eagle County towns and our Board of County Commissioners will 
soon be passing ordinances and proposing local ballot propositions in 
November to allow retail marijuana establishments in our county after Jan. 1.

My question to our officials is how will you inform the tourists from 
Netherlands, Japan, Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, 
etc., where recreational marijuana is "illegal" that they cannot 
smoke marijuana in public places, on lift lines, on federal ski 
resort runs, and in our local lodging facilities? Many of them do not 
speak English but are being told marijuana is "legal" in Colorado for 
all winter tourists in the New Year.

Will the Vail and Avon police during the 2015 FIS World Alpine Ski 
Championships just arrest all these tourists to enforce the laws? 
Will the yellow shirts report them to law enforcement, or just let 
them smoke marijuana at their discretion and influence the other 
thousands of visitors to the championships? What about 
marijuana-impaired tourists driving rental cars on county roads and 
not understanding our new state DUID law, impaired limit of 5 
nanograms of THC from marijuana in a blood test?

And, of real importance, where will the tourists be directed to smoke 
our "legal" marijuana that continues being "illegal" under the U.S. 
Controlled Substance Act? Will we have designated marijuana smoking 
areas in Vail and Avon and in unincorporated Eagle County? Before all 
these ordinances and land use regulations are passed, someone needs 
to answer these basic questions for the rest of us and the uninformed 
tourists coming to visit.

Buddy Sims

Edwards
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom