Aspen Operator: 'Yeah, It's A Little Nerve-Racking'

ASPEN -- Area medical marijuana providers admit they're a bit unnerved by last week's reports that federal authorities may crack down on the industry in Colorado next year, but operators say they're striving to strictly comply with state regulations while they wait and see what happens next.

A law-enforcement official told The Associated Press last week that enforcement action is under consideration for Colorado early next year despite state laws that regulate and tax the industry -- moves that marijuana advocates hoped would spare the state from the kind of crackdown that occurred in California. There, dozens of medical marijuana businesses, landlords leasing property to growers, and retailers selling medicinal pot over the counter were targeted in Drug Enforcement Administration raids.

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Research by the group Monitoring The Future, described in recent news reports, shows that teen marijuana use continues to rise while teen alcohol use hits historic lows.

A taxed-and-regulated market like alcohol's ensures that anyone selling the substance has considerable incentive to keep it out of the hands of teens. Those who sell to underage citizens lose their license and their profits.

The underground market provides no such protections, essentially letting sales of marijuana to teens stay as profitable as sale to anyone else.

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I am 73 years old. I've never smoked pot and never truly approved of it. But I know this. People who use marijuana will go back to paying for it from people who obtained or grew the product illegally. This is Prohibition all over again - in its worst form.

Where is the good in this close down and shut down and re-regulation? If it provided decently for those who use it for medical purposes, it might make a teeny bit of sense. It doesn't. Worse, or equally stupid, is the fact it will not make a dent in recreational use. As with Prohibition, people who never drank before made bathtub gin to show that the government could not tell them what to do. So, bring it on Mexican Cartels. We are now throwing our arms open to your product. You will make it easy and you will be grinning from ear to ear, all the way to the bank.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM'S Dec. 12 column on medicinal marijuana ("The government's marijuana problem," Op-ed) misses the boat. Reclassifying marijuana would not allow doctors to prescribe the drug, nor make it OK for pharmacists to dispense it. The US Food and Drug Administration requires drugs to go through a rigorous safety and efficacy approval process before allowing them to be prescribed.

Moreover, marijuana-derived medications, such as Marinol and Cesamet, have been reclassified, and are available by prescription. Recently, the FDA ruled that raw marijuana does not meet its general standards. The drug failed an eight-factor scientific analysis that examined hundreds of studies on the plant's health effects. The National Academies of Sciences' Institute of Medicine determined "there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication."

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In what can only be considered one of those "duh?" moments, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said last week that more than 4,200 medical marijuana registry applications are on hold after law officers observed potential patients being seen by someone other than a doctor.

State law requires a legitimate doctor-patient relationship before a doctor can recommend medical marijuana. However, most Coloradans have long suspected or perhaps even personally known that the system of obtaining medical marijuana registry cards is subject to manipulation and fraud.

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With extensive new state regulations and hefty fees in place this year, the first of Breckenridge's medical marijuana dispensaries has secured its business license.

After shelling out more than $9,000 in state and local licensure fees, Alpenglow Botanicals is the first medical marijuana center in Breckenridge to be permitted under the new rules.

"It will be an annual fee to renew (our license)," Alpenglow Botanicals owner Charlie Williams said. "That's a lot of T-shirts."

Marijuana dispensaries in Breckenridge paid less than $300 in licensure expenses before the new regulations were in place, Williams said.

[end]

The Dec. 9 column by Jeff McAbee - "Use vs. abuse" - the letters to the editor written by two current SHS students and a former SHS student, and Cindy Bargell's Dec. 14 column "Know the parental 'code'" had me doing some serious thinking. The students noted their knowledge of substance use by high school students. This is no shock to anyone living in Summit County - or any other community, for that matter.

Having served on Building Accountability Advisory Committees throughout my children's tenure in Summit Schools, I know our schools are safe and administrators take their roles in keeping our students safe very seriously. However, I am extremely concerned that we have a population of parents, students and other community members who believe that to "smoke a little weed and a drink a little beer" is acceptable, and heaven forbid, harmless. Each and every toke, each and every drink of alcohol, each and every drug affects a developing brain - - and not in a good way. Teen brains are rapidly developing in areas that help them regulate emotion and build analytic and reasoning skills.

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HELENA - Jason Christ, the Missoula businessman who signed up thousands of Montanans for medical marijuana cards through "cannabis caravans," has filed a lawsuit challenging the 2011 state law that makes it harder to get medical pot.

Christ, who owns the Montana Caregivers Network, sued the state last week in state District Court in Missoula. Acting as his own attorney, Christ asked District Judge Ed McLean to strike the law as unconstitutional on several grounds and prevent the state from enforcing it.

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Nearly one in nine high school seniors have gotten high in the past year on synthetic drugs, such as "K2" or "Spice," second only to the number of teens who have used marijuana, a new survey shows.

"Monitoring the Future," the nation's most comprehensive survey of teenage drug use, found 11.4% of the high school seniors had used the synthetic substances, often packed as potpourri or herbal incense and sold in convenience stores, which mimic the effects of marijuana.

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Recreational use of the illegal drug known as ecstasy is associated with long-term changes in brain chemistry, a small, new study reveals.

Based on research with women, it appears that the so-called "rave" drug can induce a drop in serotonin levels that can last up to two years. Serotonin, the research team noted, is critical to the regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, learning and memory.

"We've always known that ecstasy produced transient effects, but with the suggestion that there would be recovery over time," explained study co-author Dr. Ronald Cowan, an associate professor of psychiatry in the department of psychiatry with Vanderbilt University Medical Center's School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. "But here we find that these effects may be sustained over time with no evidence of reversal," he added.

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UPPER FREEHOLD - The Township Committee unanimously adopted an ordinance Thursday meant to thwart an unpopular proposal to grow medical marijuana here, but it's not yet clear whether the nonprofit group that brought forth the plans will challenge the new law in court.

"We owe it to our community," Committeeman Robert Frascella said before voting in favor of an ordinance that would prohibit township officials from approving any application that violates federal law. "I don't see any benefit to our town."

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Another reason to legalize and regulate the extremely popular and relatively safe plant cannabis (marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned ("McKinnon: Drop marijuana laws," Dec. 11, is because it is biblically correct since God (the Ecologician) indicates he created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30).

The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Exactly what kind of people cages its citizens for using what God says is good?

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Teen Use of Pot Is at Its Highest in 30 Years, With 10th Graders More Likely to Smoke a Joint Than a Cigarette. With the Spread of 'Medical' Marijuana, They Perceive Less Risk -- Despite the Evidence.

One measure of the moral mettle of American society is the private lives of teenagers. And we're not talking about a fascination with vampires and werewolves.

On a few key benchmarks -- smoking, pregnancy, and alcohol use -- today's teens are making smarter choices. Trends show more of them avoiding those particular misadventures of adolescence.

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What usually is a rubber stamp process to continue Bay County participation in a multi-jurisdictional undercover drug task force became quite a stink this month, thanks to Bay City attorney Edward M. Czuprynski.

While we don't always agree with Czuprynski's tactics, Bay County and our region are better for the rousing debates that often ensue when he launches one of his broadsides.

In a strongly worded ad in The Bay City Times published on Dec. 4, Czuprynski's target this time was BAYANET, the Bay Area Drug Enforcement Team. He questioned Bay County's participation in the longtime drug-busting team headed by the Michigan State Police.

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FALL RIVER - Following national trends, more city youths are experimenting with marijuana use, according to a survey of middle and high school students.

The survey of high school students found that the percentage reporting marijuana use within the past 30 days increased by 9 percentage points from a 2008 level of 22 percent. Among individual grade levels, the largest increase was among those in the junior class, with an increase from 24.1 percent in 2008 to 40.2 percent this year.

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FALL RIVER - Armed with the results of surveys related to health and risk behaviors conducted at the city's high and middle schools, the BOLD Coalition is considering the next steps to make Fall River a healthier place.

With the surveys showing increased use of marijuana, among other concerns, Staff Director Craig Gaspard said BOLD is planning to create a series of public service announcements aimed at prescription drug abuse. Gaspard said he hopes to have the advertisements run on local radio and public access television stations. Outreach could be expanded to other stations if grant funding can be secured.

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The Shasta Lake City Council on Tuesday will consider a request by Councilwoman Dolores Lucero to possibly ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

There are two dispensaries in town, the Queen of Dragons on Shasta Dam Boulevard and the 530 Collective on Locust Avenue.

Jamie Kerr, founder and CEO of the 530 Collective said Friday she doesn't expect the city to pass an urgency ordinance banning the collectives outright.

"I respect the city not wanting to be liable to trigger federal pre-emption, and I obviously want to keep my doors open," Kerr said. "I believe there are a few options that can accomplish both those goals."

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Three men who openly operated medical marijuana businesses in Helena and Great Falls were sentenced in federal court Thursday to a year in prison.

In an emotionally charged hearing, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell handed down the prison terms to Joshua Schultz, Jesse Leland and Jason Burns. About 75 friends and family members who packed into the federal courthouse in Helena were hoping the judge would take the recommendation of probation made by the men's attorneys, but also feared that the judge might impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years or even the maximum of 40 years.

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Consuming the Drug Can Be Harmful but Rarely Fatal

Some veterinarians in Durango have seen a spike in the number of dogs poisoned by marijuana since the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries made the drug more accessible.

"We used to see maybe one case a year," said Stacee Santi, a veterinarian at Riverview Animal Hospital. "Now we're seeing a couple a month."

Dogs can be exposed to marijuana through smoke or eating cannabis-laced foodstuffs.

Recently, a large-breed dog was brought to the hospital stumbling, dribbling urine and exhibiting the classic symptoms of dilated eyes and slow heart beat, Santi said.

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Officials: Delaine Fitzpatrick Had 12 Pounds of Marijuana in Car Trunk

A Havre woman who was cleared on charges stemming from her medical marijuana business in August has been arrested for allegedly possessing 12 pounds of marijuana in Oregon.

Delaine M. Fitzpatrick, 34, and Garrett J. Briere, 47, were arrested on U. S. Interstate 5 near Roseburg, Ore., Nov. 9.

According to an Oregon Department of State Police document, officers found 12 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of the white 2002 Chevrolet Malibu that Briere was driving and Fitzpatrick was riding in.

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