cannabisnews.com: Pot Measure Smoked
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Pot Measure Smoked
Posted by CN Staff on May 04, 2010 at 05:35:31 PT
By Gene Davis, DDN Staff Writer
Source: Denver Daily News
Colorado -- A measure that would have given voters the chance to essentially shut down retail medical marijuana dispensaries was killed yesterday in a Senate committee hearing.A resolution proposed by GOP lawmakers that would have defined a medical marijuana caregiver in the state constitution was voted down 4-3 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If passed by lawmakers and approved by voters, the resolution would have essentially snuffed out the medical marijuana dispensary model that has cropped up over the past year and a half.
“I believe when voters approved medical marijuana in 2000 that they did not envision a pot dispensary on every street corner,” Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, said in a statement prior to the committee hearing. “There are more medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver than Starbucks locations. The people deserve the opportunity to tell us if that is what they wanted.” However, medical marijuana activists like Kevin Grimsinger a war veteran who lost two limbs while serving in Afghanistan believes the dispensary model helps ensure that marijuana is affordable for patients. His electric bill jumped by more than $200 when he tried to grow his own marijuana. Additionally, the marijuana that dispensaries are able to grow and sell is of a higher quality than the marijuana most patients are able to grow to treat their ailments, he said.“Marijuana is a weed, anyone can grow it, but very few people can grow it right,” he said during the committee hearing.Despite two medical marijuana reform bills that are making their way through the Legislature, many in the law enforcement community think the state is not doing enough to slow down Colorado’s fastest growing industry. North Metro Task Force Commander Jerry Peters argued during yesterday’s committee hearing that even regulating the industry wouldn’t shut down most of the medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado’s neighborhoods. Medical marijuana attorney Brian Vicente, however, pointed out that the medical marijuana cardholders, of which there are more than 60,000 in Colorado, would still have a right to their constitutionally protected medicine even if dispensaries were shut down. As such, he believes getting rid of dispensaries would significantly increase the number of caregivers throughout the state. “The sort of grand irony of this bill is that it is being pushed by law enforcement, but what they’re doing is taking a small controlled number of dispensaries and they would want to specifically remove that and disperse those grows to every community,” he said during the committee hearing.Meanwhile, Dr. Christian Thurstone, the medical director of the adolescent substance abuse treatment program at Denver Health, said the dispensary model is increasing the availability of marijuana to kids. Research shows that about one in six teenagers who try marijuana get addicted and are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior and drop out of school, according to Thurstone. Children being referred to treatment for marijuana tripled last year compared to 2008, he added.Jeff Blue, who appeared at the committee hearing on behalf of Attorney General John Suthers, added that voters should have the chance to weigh in on the retail dispensary model. The constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2000 gave seriously ill patients the right to use medical marijuana in Colorado, although the manner in which they could get the medicine was not detailed.However, Kayvan Khalatbari, owner of Denver Pain Relief, argued that lots of people had lots of ideas about what would come from Amendment 20.“I think the voters voted on giving people safe access to medicine, and that’s what it really comes down to,” he said.Source: Denver Daily News (CO)Author: Gene Davis, DDN Staff WriterPublished: May 4, 2010Copyright: 2010 Denver Daily NewsContact: editor thedenverdailynews.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/MqcsCfYUWebsite: http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 05, 2010 at 14:33:50 PT
Hippy Dippy Path?
Uncool, due to lack of forethought.Your hippie dippie ideas lack a thorough understanding of reality. ***If this is what he means it doesn't seem like the reasonable thinking of a hippie. Most hippies are thinking people and progressive politically and otherwise and not at all close minded.URL: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hippie%20dippie&defid=2312983
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on May 05, 2010 at 14:27:37 PT
Pot Dispensary Rules Up for Vote in Colo. Senate
By The Associated PressPublished: May 5,2010Colorado -- Backers of regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries are trying to fend off last-minute changes they say could unravel the proposal.The state Senate was debating the legislation Wednesday and was expected to take an initial vote later in the day.The bill, already passed the House, would allow local voters or governments to ban dispensaries. It also requires that dispensaries grow 70 percent of the marijuana they sell, a provision aimed at keeping tabs on the drug.Some senators want to remove those parts and to allow cities and counties to set hours for dispensaries.Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, warned lawmakers against going down the “hippy dippy path,” which he said would lead to ultimate defeat of the regulation bill.Cities and counties as well as many dispensaries have been pushing for lawmakers to pass the regulations, which will require that store owners be licensed by both the state and local governments. Local governments are trying to get a handle on the estimated 1,100 dispensaries that have opened in the state, many in the last year.Dispensary owners, meanwhile, are willing to put up with criminal background checks and audits to give them protection against possible federal drug raids. Some, though, are worried about having to pay thousands of dollars in fees while regulators finalize the details of rules that could end up putting them out of business.Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said allowing cities to ban dispensaries violates the constitutional amendment voters passed a decade ago allowing medical marijuana. She said that would open the door to a total ban across the state.“If all did what one did, there is no more Amendment 20,” she said.Gov. Bill Ritter has said he won’t sign regulations that don’t allow for local bans and don’t require dispensaries to grow most of their marijuana.Police, prosecutors and state Attorney General John Suthers have been urging lawmakers not to regulate dispensaries because they say that will legitimize an industry they don’t believe was allowed under Amendment 20.Copyright: 2010 Colorado Springs Business Journal URL: http://csbj.com/2010/05/05/pot-dispensary-rules-up-for-vote-in-colo-senate/
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on May 04, 2010 at 17:50:36 PT:
Translations are in order
"North Metro Task Force Commander Jerry Peters argued during yesterday’s committee hearing that even regulating the industry wouldn’t shut down most of the medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado’s neighborhoods.Translation: I don't have enough jack-booted thugs to bust down all their doors, shoot all their dogs, threaten to kill all the inhabitants and ransack all their homes and steal all their property via forfeiture.Meanwhile, Dr. Christian Thurstone, the medical director of the adolescent substance abuse treatment program at Denver Health, said the dispensary model is increasing the availability of marijuana to kids. Research shows that about one in six teenagers who try marijuana get addicted and are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior and drop out of school, according to Thurstone. Children being referred to treatment for marijuana tripled last year compared to 2008, he added.Translation: SQUEEEEE! SQUEEEEE! Oink-oink-oink-oink! SQUEEEEE! My meal ticket is being threatened! The number of court-mandated (and wholly unnecessary) cannabis-based treatment 'referrals' will drop to nothing! I'll actually have to find real addicts to treat, and they're hardly any to support my practice! What am I gonna do?It's so funny to see them on the defensive, now. They can't hide their self-interest behind platitudes anymore, not with the economy tightening like a noose around the fiscal necks of local and State governments. Their yada-yada about saving the children won't sell this time, with so many parents out of work, on their last tier of unemployment and their kids facing homelessness and malnutrition as a result. It seems some of those State senators heard from those people and got the message loud and clear. And so will this country's DrugWarriors.
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on May 04, 2010 at 07:38:39 PT
oops
I meant 4 bucks is seen by most people as what the gas money they need to get to work for a few days.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on May 04, 2010 at 07:37:38 PT
Republican attitude
The constant "Starbucks" sound bite is grating, it shows their arrogance, Starbucks and $4 coffee is not a place most Americans can go. Most people in the US are scraping by to pay bills and patients need cannabis to continue functioning and working.it shows the frame of reference of these guys in the political class, hanging out at Starbucks is something they can all relate to. Four bucks is enough to run their truck for a few days.very much like the 1700's "let them eat cake". oh, the commoners are suffering? "let them go to Starbucks"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly said by a French princess upon learning that the peasants had no bread. As brioche is a luxury bread enriched with eggs and butter, it would reflect the princess's obliviousness to the nature of a famine.Although commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette,[1] th
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Comment #1 posted by Jim Leighton on May 04, 2010 at 07:29:58 PT:
homework for Gene Davis
Cannabis is not addictive Gene , the hearsay from Dr.Thurstone is outdated by clinical studies that prove cannabis is actually good for you .Our brain produces endocannabinoids that are quite like the cannabinoids in cannabis . You have receptors in your brain that use the cannabinoids to produce those enhancements of perception so often refered to as being stoned or "high". Smoking it may cause lung problems , but if you are not getting any cannabis you may have a cannibis deficiency .
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