cannabisnews.com: Pot Cops a Possible Side Effect of Med Marijuana
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Pot Cops a Possible Side Effect of Med Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 12:09:58 PT
By Jacob Rodgers, The Gazette
Source: Gazette
Colorado Springs -- Colorado’s booming medical marijuana businesses have been a lifesaver in a sea of red ink for state and local governments struggling to find new sources of revenues amid an historic recession.In Colorado Springs, sales tax revenue from medical marijuana has risen to about $50,000 a month, allowing the city to mow grass medians and consider restoring some Saturday bus service.
The irony for the medical marijuana growers and dispensaries is that the additional revenues being collected from them will also fund a new Colorado Springs Police Department unit whose full-time job will be to keep watch over the industry.“We have a whole new industry … that we have to make sure it’s done safely and it’s not having an impact on quality of life in the community, as well as other crimes,” said Deputy Police Chief Pete Carey. “We have to make sure that as it starts, we pay attention to it.”After years of budget cuts, the Police Department’s rebuilding efforts appear to be starting with medical marijuana money.Three detectives and a code enforcement officer would be assigned to the team, which would be created in 2011 under the proposed budget awaiting City Council approval. The team would be part of the Metro Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence task force and would have duties similar to officers who now enforce city liquor laws and zoning regulations, said VNI chief Lt. John Godsey.The entire expense, $331,000, would come from fees paid by medical marijuana businesses.In the two years since the U.S. Justice Department announced a hands-off policy toward lawful marijuana businesses in states in which voters have approved its use for various medical conditions, Colorado Springs police have been hard-pressed to keep up with the changes.Despite break-ins and 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May’s claim that medical marijuana dispensaries are magnets for crime, Police Department crime statistics have shown little or no increase in illegal activities associated with the burgeoning industry.But medical marijuana has kept officers running on calls that take away from time that could be spent investigating narcotics dealers.VNI has been has been deluged with calls about medical marijuana, Godsey said, requiring five to eight officers a day going out to check on reports of illegal growing operations or buildings smelling of marijuana.What the pot cops would be doing is unclear because the state and city are still coming up with the rules they will be enforcing. Some of it will involve a mix of local and state laws ensuring marijuana dispensaries are properly secured and growers don’t have more plants than allowed under the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000.The detectives on the team will also be making arrests if they find illegal growing operations or illegal drug deals, Godsey said, while the code enforcement officer would ensure building codes are being followed and that growers and dispensaries are the required distance from schools or churches.“If five years from now we only have 50 dispensaries, and they’ve been very compliant and haven’t had any issues … then it would be maybe a matter of a reassessment of resources,” Godsey said. “We know how busy we are relative to the amount of complaints and work coming in.”The plan to create a new team devoted to medical marijuana enforcement strikes Tanya Garduno, president of Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, as an overreaction.Garduno said the team wouldn’t be needed after July 1, when state auditors begin regularly visiting businesses while cameras monitor each dispensary, keeping track of everything going on in the businesses.“The state has accounted for (regulation), and we paid $9 million for that,” said Garduno, referring to the $8.5 million the state has received in application fees from marijuana centers.Not everyone in the medical marijuana field is as wary of the scrutiny from law enforcement. Triton Gulczynski, who owns Crossroads Medical Marijuana Center, was glad to hear more detectives would be overseeing the business. With regulation, he said, comes validation for the industry.“We want to be regulated,” said Gulczynski. “We’re all about being on the books.”While the Police Department views the creation of the pot cops team as recognition that a new industry requires new priorities, it could be met with a backlash from critics who’ve blasted police for essentially giving up investigating thefts, burglaries and stolen vehicles as budget cuts left officers running from one call to the next.Over the past few years, the number of detectives investigating property crimes has shrunk from 36 to 12, said police spokesman Sgt. Darrin Abbink. The department also eliminated one of three deputy chief positions, its two-officer fugitives unit, relying instead on SWAT officers to pick up suspects, and next year plans to reduce its airport detail by two officers.By the end of this year, the Police Department expects to have 40 unfilled vacancies.Carey expects that to be reversed beginning next year, when the department hopes to hold its first training academy in years.“It’s getting us back in the right direction,” Carey said. “I believe we’re entering a recovery phase.”Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)Author: Jacob Rodgers, The GazettePublished: October 23, 2010Copyright: 2010 The GazetteWebsite: http://www.gazette.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/zUAbDm1oContact: http://drugsense.org/url/xYIC9bglCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by museman on October 26, 2010 at 08:17:10 PT
GCW & Gary
The Church, and as far as I am concerned, and can see, all 'religions' (which includes politics, economics, and law) are false. John Lennon said it best in his modern paraphrase of Yashua; "All you need is love."It is unfortunate that so many good folks get lost in the vaults of ancient, dusty, ignorant belief systems, fostered by, even engineered by the controlling factions that now rule from corporate seats.The distinction between those who understand the truth as exemplified in Yashua's teaching, and example, and those who repeat rote and ritual without understanding -but much attitude- (the church) is apparently not being made by many people who deny it all based on the stupidity of 'religious' -as opposed to spiritual- people.And I agree that without the inclusion of the highest truths known to man, namely Yashua's teachings, in the battle for freedom and liberty -most especially liberation of cannabis users, all we will ever get is a series of 'legal compromises' that continue to feed the beast with new and clever ways to make the people suffer.Thank you for not allowing the snide to undermine this perspective.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on October 25, 2010 at 12:59:03 PT
Gary Minor,
The church is antichrist!The deluding influence is given to those who are unable to receive the spirit of truth. The wicked.It is a blessing for those who receive the spirit of truth to see who has the deluding influence. The spirit of error. Those who have the deluding influence don't even realize they have it; It is Our blessing to recognize it.For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. NOW THEY ARE BEING NOTICED.Expose evil.
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Comment #2 posted by Garry Minor on October 25, 2010 at 10:54:52 PT:
GCW
Why not just come out and say it.There are 250 shekels of kaneh bosm/cannabis in the Holy oil God instructed Moses to make.All Gods Priests are to be anointed with this oil as are kings and prophets.In the Old Testament, under the old covenant, Priests are ordained to stand between God and the people.Yeshua(Jesus) came to baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit, the Chrism, and begin a new covenant where all those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand can be anointed, becoming; "a chosen people, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy nation." 1John 2:15-29, Ex 40:9-16, Isaiah 61, Jeremiah 31:31, 1Peter 2:4-10, Rev 1:6, 5:10, 20:6 
 
The Gospel of Philip says among many other things that; 
"It is through water and fire that the whole place is purified- the visible by the visible, the hidden by the hidden. There are some things hidden by those visible. There is water in water, there is fire in Chrism."
 And again it says; 
"The chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word "Chrism" that we have been called "Christians," certainly not from the word "baptism." And it is because of the "Chrism" that the "Christ" has his name. For the Father anointed the Son, and the Son anointed the Apostles, and the Apostles anointed us. He who has been anointed possesses everything. He possesses the resurrection, the light, the cross, the Holy Spirit. The Father gave him this in the Bridal chamber, he merely accepted the gift. The Father was in the Son and the Son in the Father. This is the Kingdom of Heaven." 
 Cyril of Jerusalem;
For as Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Ghost, went forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise ye, after Holy Baptism and the Mystical Chrism, having put on the whole armour of the Holy Ghost, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish it, saying, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
“Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.” 
Having been anointed, therefore, with this holy ointment, keep it unspotted and unblemished in you, pressing forward by good works, and being made well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation, Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.Therefore, the church as we know it is factually, literally, and Biblically;
"anti"- opposed to or against/ "Christ"- covered in oil, Anointed!The church is against being anointed with the Oil of God as described in the Torah!!!!!The church is antichrist!But they're too blind to see!2Thessalonians 2 Revelation 22 Psalm 133
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on October 24, 2010 at 12:57:45 PT
The irony 
Does the irony = a new twist on conflict of interest?A good one at that. Imagine a police department who's interest is to insure the medical cannabis issue works so they keep getting the dough.-0-This is always one of the good ones: "code enforcement officer would ensure building codes are being followed and that growers and dispensaries are the required distance from schools or CHURCHES. Especially in Colorado Springs, where some significant "Christian" groups hold office.God says all the seed bearing plants are good on the 1st page of the Bible; but the churhces say keep the plant cannabis at distance. (Lest it helps people know God and make the church obsolete, I assume)The Green Collar Worker
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