Pubdate: Tue, 18 Mar 2014
Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Pueblo Chieftain
Contact:  http://www.chieftain.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613
Author: Gordon MacAlister

TRADITIONAL VALUES

According to stats in the March 3 Pueblo West View, of five retail 
marijuana stores in Pueblo County, four are located in Pueblo West. 
Additionally, of seven county medical marijuana dispensaries, six 
reside in Pueblo West.

With 10 Pueblo County sanctioned facilities for the cultivation of 
marijuana, eight are in Pueblo West.

This is just the licensing issued for 2014 - 2015 and beyond are 
anyone's guess because Pueblo West doesn't get to have a say. 
Marijuana growth and distribution, both medical and retail, are under 
the purview of the Pueblo County Board of Commissioners.

I came to Pueblo West in 2006, returning to Colorado after a 
four-decade absence. I thought I was returning to a halcyon Western 
state and community ripe with the values of tradition and moral grit.

Within a few short years of my arrival, Colorado sold its soul for 
populism, political correctness and federal favoritism. The 
subsequent 2012 passage of Colorado Amendment 64, or the freedom of 
marijuana act, exemplifies Colorado's self-destructive decline and 
the potential dilemma Pueblo West may now face in real estate values, 
growth and population demographic.

A disquieting conjecture is that things might have been different for 
Colorado and communities like Pueblo West had those folks who 
withheld their votes in the Nov. 6, 2012, election possessed the 
courage and foresight to glimpse the future across the board - 
federal, state and local.

A smidgen late. Perhaps the lesson learned is that elections do have 
consequences that ultimately may sprout just outside of your property lines.

Gordon MacAlister

Pueblo West
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom