YES ON 44

Transferring Pot Was Already Legal

Despite the recent hoopla about Amendment 44's making it legal for
adults to give children marijuana, we might expect the editorial
staff of the Camera to actually read the law that now exists and
relay the facts (Editorial, Oct. 10). Colorado lawmakers created the
existing law in 2001. A part of that law states that anyone in
possession of marijuana can give it to anyone else and not be
committing a crime.

Possession is a crime and selling it is a crime, but giving it away
is not. Lawmakers were trying to stop filling the jails with people
who handed someone else a joint. They decriminalized possession of
minor amounts. Selling marijuana is still a crime, and 44 doesn't change that.

Unfortunately lawmakers made an error in the wording and made it
possible for adults to give pot to kids. That error has been on the
books for the past five years. Amendment 44 doesn't address that
error. What it addresses is adult possession. Amendment 44 amends one
sentence of the existing law to make it legal for adults to possess
minor amounts. It does not address any other parts of the law. In the
next session, Colorado lawmakers can fix the problem that the
opponents of 44 perceive now. What voters are not being told is that
44 does not repeal "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" or
Title 19, which is the children's code. Title 19 protects kids from
adult criminal behavior. Amendment 44 has nothing to do with kids and
everything to do with adults. It is a bit odd that these protectors
of our children just noticed that the existing law fails to make
giving pot to kids a crime. But it is not surprising that the Camera
editorial staff hasn't read the existing law.

Paul Tiger

Longmont