7 POT "HOT SPOTS" LIGHT UP STATE

Data Released by the Nation's Drug Czar Are Based on Positive Tests
for Marijuana in the Workplace. Aspen and Crested Butte Had the
Highest Positive Test Rates.

Seven areas in Colorado exceed the national average for positive
workplace marijuana tests, federal drug czar John Walters said Monday.

Colorado's "hot spots," according to Walters, include three counties
in metro Denver, the Western Slope and parts of the southeast,
southwest and northwest corners of the state.

All had positive workplace tests for marijuana exceeding 3 percent.
The area including Aspen and Crested Butte had the highest positive
test rate, 3.92 percent.

The national average is 2.8 percent, Walters said.

"This data shows us where to put resources for treatment," said
Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The seven hot spots include all or parts of 32 Colorado urban and
rural counties.

There are many reasons for the results, said Janet Wood, director of
behavioral health services for the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The Interstate 25 and I-70 corridors are transportation hubs for
incoming marijuana, and marijuana is available in rural areas of the
state where the plant is cultivated undetected, said Wood.

"We also have a frontier spirit in Colorado of 'Leave me alone and
mind your own business,' so it goes undetected and is passed down from
generation to generation," Wood said. "And we have a younger citizenry
than other parts of the country, and college-age folks are a high-risk
population."

The identified areas include Colorado ski towns and most college
towns.

"The heaviest drug users are 18 to 25, and ski towns and college towns
are heavy with that demographic," said David Murray, a policy analyst
in the federal drug office.

The data were gleaned from drug testing for prehiring, federally
sensitive workforces such as at nuclear plants, pilots and
transportation workers, employee testing for suspicion or cause, and
random testing, said Murray.

The drug tests were conducted by Quest Diagnostics Inc., a private
company that is the U.S. leader in workforce drug testing, he said.

"It may not capture the exact temperature of the whole population, but
it does tell us if a particular substance is increasing or decreasing
in a particular area," Murray said.

Workplace drug testing serves as a deterrent for employees who decide
drug use isn't worth losing their job, he said. "I think the tests are
preventive. People grow up and say, 'You know, I like this job and I
have a family, and I don't want to fool around with dope on Saturday
night."'

Mason Tvert, campaign director of SAFER - Safer Alternative for
Enjoyable Recreation - said the report was issued "to justify spending
taxpayer dollars to travel to Colorado to plot against our upcoming
statewide initiative with state leaders."

SAFER, which spearheaded a successful Denver initiative to legalize
possession of small amounts of marijuana, is trying to get a similar
measure on November's ballot.