The real "farce" (Letter to the editor: Pot dispensaries are a farce, Nov. 20) is requiring sick people to pay extortion money to government for protection from police for using the relatively safe God-given plant (see the first page of the Bible) cannabis (marijuana).

The real farce is in caging responsible adult humans for using the plant (and it's commendable Ed Rosenberg has no issue with what an adult does in their home with marijuana). The real farce is that free American farmers may not grow hemp but communist Chinese farmers can and America's greatest foreign debt is with China.

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Reading that Glenwood's P&Z denied Ross' new sign proposal and that council was revisiting the issue got my attention. I just could not believe that a new sign for a business like Ross, which is the type of business any town would be happy to have, was denied while local "medical" marijuana stores are able to put "Pot & Hash Sale" signs on their store fronts and this is OK?

What has happened to us? Is there just no common sense around anymore? For the record I have no issue with what an adult does in their home with marijuana, or alcohol for that matter.

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At the 2011 Hempcon medical marijuana convention in Denver in October, business lectures and panel discussions shared the program with more provocative events, like a Miss Hempcon pageant, in which scantily clad women - many dressed as nurses - danced for the audience.

Offering a counterpoint to the spring-break-style high jinks, local attorney Joel Russman, speaking at a seminar called "Know Your Rights," warned aspiring medical marijuana entrepreneurs to practice restraint when promoting their businesses.

"You don't want to attract a bunch of extra attention," he said, especially if your industry is breaking federal law.

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DENVER - The price of a medical marijuana license in Colorado has been lowered more than half.

The state Board of Health voted unanimously Wednesday to lower the fee from $90 a year to $35 a year beginning Jan. 1. Already the $90 fee is lower than when Colorado first authorized medical marijuana a decade ago, when the fee was $140.

The annual fee was lowered because it's sufficient to cover administrative costs.

Board of Health spokesman Mark Salley says the number of medical marijuana patients in Colorado has dropped dramatically this year. The number dropped more than 20 percent - to about 103,000 - between June 30 and Sept. 30. The explanation may be tougher limits on medical marijuana passed by the Legislature.

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The state Board of Health on Wednesday slashed the fee that medical-marijuana patients pay when applying for or renewing their licenses.

Patients will now pay $35 to be on Colorado's medical-marijuana registry, down from $90. When the program started, after voter approval in 2000, the annual fee was $140.

"We feel comfortable that will cover our expenses and be appropriate given the volume of patients we are receiving," said Ron Hyman, the Health Department official who oversees the registry.

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I find it very troubling how we disrespect our veterans, in particular those who have been wounded in service to their country, and need our help the most. We trusted them to protect our freedom, and yet when they return injured from military combat, we deny them the very freedom that they fought and sacrificed for.

Why is it that we disregard modern science, and more importantly, disregard the observations and opinions of our wounded veterans who tell us that medical marijuana is the best thing for their PTSD and chronic pain? Instead, we give them addictive narcotics that promote depression and then follow that up with antidepressants that promote suicide. I think that the low national public opinion of politicians is higher than they deserve.

Dr. Bob Melamede

Colorado Springs

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The Colorado Meth Project has launched a digital anti-methamphetamine campaign designed to answer teenagers' questions about the drug as well as raise awareness about its dangers.

About 20 teenagers joined Colorado Attorney General John Suthers at Denver's George Washington High School on Tuesday, where he announced the new campaign and website, MethProject.org.

The website is part of the Ask MethProject.org campaign, which takes a multimedia approach to provide teenagers with more than 350 facts about meth. The website prompts teenagers with questions, slide shows and personal accounts from recovering addicts.

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The decision by Fort Collins voters to ban medical marijuana businesses from the city could result in a strained three months for existing businesses and their customers.

The Larimer County Clerk's Office is expected to certify Tuesday's election results by Nov. 18. Once that occurs, the city's 20 medical marijuana businesses would have to shut down within 90 days.

The dispensaries are likely to stay open as long as they can, said Steve Acker-man, president of the Fort Collins Medical Cannabis Association and owner of the dispensary Organic Alternatives.

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Measures For 5 Percent Excise Tax On Medical Marijuana Pass In Both Towns

BRECKENRIDGE - More than 70 percent of voters in both Frisco and Breckenridge supported ballot questions proposing 5 percent excise taxes on the sale of medical marijuana.

"I'm very pleased that it passed," Frisco Mayor Bill Pelham said of the town's ballot question. "I think it was a worthwhile initiative. It's something that's going to be very worthwhile for the community."

Both towns said the taxes were needed to help offset the administrative, legal and enforcement costs brought on by the centers and the still-changing regulations on medical marijuana coming down from the state and federal levels.

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Kevin Duggan correctly reported in his article (Oct. 16) that I did not become so involved in the effort to close the marijuana dispensaries in our town because my daughter became involved in drugs. That may have happened anyway.

What didn't get reported is the reason I did become so involved. As I told him, I became involved because I looked at the numbers and became convinced that the dispensaries have caused an explosion in drug abuse (0 to 500 cardholders in Larimer County over an eight-year period before dispensaries opened, and then 500 to 8,000 cardholders in the two years since they opened; 0 to 5,000 cardholders statewide over an eight-year period before dispensaries opened, and then from 5,000 to 130,000 cardholders statewide in the two years since they opened, plus a 300 percent increase in drug-related expulsions in Poudre School District since they opened).

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When people hear the term "medical marijuana" these days, it likely sparks a strong reaction one way or the other. Though many "sensational" stories have made their way into the public eye via the media, much of the reality of the medical cannabis community as it stands today remains largely misunderstood by the average person.

It is true that the medical marijuana program remained relatively small from it's inception in the year 2000 until the latter part of 2009 when the total number of patients in Colorado barely topped 4,000. Today, more than 137,000 patients are registered cardholders in the medical cannabis program. So what in fact changed to account for the increase in participants to the program? Many people who are not part of the community have been left with the impression that the program is fraught with abuses and lack of regulation; I propose this is far from an accurate picture of the truth.

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Vote 'Yes' On Proposition 300

Not here, not now.

Fort Collins is at the epicenter of an experiment as to whether the federal government will choose to enforce the illegality of marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance in communities that have approved medical marijuana dispensaries.

The federal government appears to have opened this experimental door, but it's a door that could close at any moment with a change in presidential administrations or even a change of heart by the current administration. Waiting and wondering if enforcement will occur places the city, its residents, medical marijuana customers and even dispensary owners themselves in far too vulnerable a position.

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With an election a week away, I have some thoughts on the issues and candidates:

Pot shops: I talked with County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle and he told me that a lot of Fort Collins voters already have voted in the current election. Maybe it is because of Initiated Question 300 - the city ordinance that would prohibit medical marijuana centers in Fort Collins.

I am opposed to allowing these centers to remain in operation in our town and will vote in favor of Question 300. (This is an issue where you vote "yes" if you are opposed to marijuana shops.) Larimer County and other municipalities already have banned them.

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Without resorting to hyperbole or what the other side calls "reefer madness," we believe two factors have come together at this time to create what we think is the perfect storm, to enable the worst possible scenario for us and our future in Fort Collins: commercial marijuana dealerships and those who've made a mockery of the medical marijuana card.

The 20 commercial pot shops in Fort Collins and the geometric proliferation of those obtaining cards who have no legitimate need for them has led to a massive increase in the numbers of those using marijuana without fear of the legal, physical or psychological consequences. These bode ill for our future together.

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The Poudre School District board in Fort Collins voted Tuesday night to support a ballot initiative that would rid the city of medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Board members voted 5-0 for a resolution backing Question 300, which would ban the city's 21 licensed dispensaries.

Board president Nancy Tellez and director James Ross did not vote, saying they had doubts about the board's taking a stance on a political issue that is not related to education.

However, the resolution states there is a connection between drug-related expulsions in the district and the arrival of the dispensaries in 2008.

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The forced closure of Calif. dispensaries further highlights the need for clarity on federal policy.

This is a time of great uncertainty for those in the medical marijuana business.

While we've consistently criticized the creation of the dispensary model -- that is not what Colorado voters had in mind in 2000 when they passed a ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana -- we also think dispensary owners ought to be treated fairly.

In short, enforcement rules ought to be clear. And that is not the case.

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It's Not the Federal Government's Issue

In the design of America's founders, the states are supposed to be centers of democratic experiment. They're not supposed to be uniform. So it is disturbing to us that the Obama administration has launched a crackdown on medical marijuana, which is legal in Colorado, 15 other states and the District of Columbia.

Numerous controversies pit medical marijuana users and dispensaries against state and local authorities. But overall, things have worked fairly well. The dire consequences of critics -- of a state lost in a pot haze -- never happened. The Bush administration, despite cracking down in many areas of the "war on drugs," never seriously challenged state medical marijuana laws. There was great hope that Obama would normalize the matter by formally letting states set their own policies.

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One of the biggest issues for medical marijuana entrepreneurs is the shortage of banks willing to take their money. Most used Colorado Springs State Bank until September 30, when its MMJ accounts were dropped. And now, The Bank of Denver, where other businesses had found refuge, is doing likewise -- and a dispensary owner says the decision was prompted by the recent raid at Cherry Top Farms.

The owner, who asks that his name not be used, says The Bank of Denver was the sixth that's "kicked me out" -- the previous one being Colorado Springs State Bank. He understands that such facilities are anxious about working with MMJ operations, since marijuana remains against federal law, and banks are federally regulated. Nevertheless, "I've never made up any stories," he stresses. "I've told them exactly what I do, because my goal is to be 100 percent forthright about this legal business."

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Marijuana dispensary ban could hurt patients FORT COLLINS - Opponents of a Fort Collins November ballot measure that would ban medical marijuana businesses in the city say it could hurt patients.

Two medical marijuana centers that operate just outside Fort Collins city limits say they cannot handle a crush of new patients expected if the measure is approved. County rules cap the number of patients they may serve at 500.

If approved, the 20 licensed marijuana businesses in the city would have 90 days to shut down.

Supporters of the ban say Fort Collins has become a sanctuary city for marijuana use.

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In the wake of an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice that federal law enforcement plans to go after medical marijuana (MMJ) dispensaries in California, Colorado dispensaries have joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

UFCW reportedly welcomed the dispensaries and promised to use its muscle to back up the dispensary workers to protect them not only from unfair prosecution, but also ordinances that ban dispensaries.

That's great. We're happy to see dispensaries, which employ thousands of workers in our state, get some support.

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