MEDICAL MARIJUANA STORES BAD FOR EAGLE COUNTY

I would like to draw community attention to the two medical marijuana
stores (one open and one opening) in Edwards, an unincorporated
community under the Eagle County government's jurisdiction.

To date, I have not been convinced of the benefits of selling medical
marijuana and consider the 2000 state voter approval as not merited.
Marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to other types of more serious
drug abuse. Making it readily available in Edwards is the wrong
course of action.

The recreational drug abuse by many of the medical marijuana
dispensaries is well-documented around America, and crime and
complaints have surrounded most of the stores, including the open
smoking of marijuana on nearby streets and targeting school students
with store advertising fliers. If they can open two medical marijuana
stores, Edwards will soon see 10 more opening because the medical
profits involved with growing pot are unbelievable. Medical marijuana
store clerks also should be armed because of the large amounts of
cash on hand (customers don't like using credit cards) and the
medical marijuana crop in the store is very valuable and easily sold
on the street, if stolen. It is almost like opening a gun store --
remember, all the clerks are armed.

Have the new medical marijuana stores applied for gun permits through
the county sheriff?

June 19, Los Angeles marijuana store robbed of pot, cash. Robbers in
ski masks got away with pot and $15,000 cash in a stickup at a Los
Angeles medical marijuana store.

June 17, The Denver Post: Boulder police arrested four men today in
connection with the robbery of a clinic that dispenses medical
marijuana. New Options Wellness Clinic in the 2800 block of East
Aurora Avenue was robbed at about 3:30 p.m.

So why would we want medical marijuana stores in Edwards when we know
crime will follow?

I called several Eagle County offices and discovered that permitting
and licensing are not required by these medical marijuana stores, and
no one has any oversight except the state of Colorado. They don't
even need a business license?

I find it odd that the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, Health and
Human Services, Planning Commission, Environmental Health, Community
Development and Code Enforcement have no oversight or any planning or
zoning enforcement of these new medical marijuana stores.

Therefore, does Eagle County have a medical marijuana ordinance
currently applicable to Edwards to authorize such sales? And how can
anyone open a medical marijuana store in Eagle County without an
ordinance or approval of voters or county commissioners?

Recently, the Avon and Gypsum town councils reportedly voted not to
open these types of stores in their communities. Edwards does not
have this vote by elected officials, so I have requested my Eagle
County commissioners to bring the approval of these stores to a
public vote or to process them through a rational Eagle County
permit. We need some type of public oversight.

FYI: Durango on Aug. 30 froze medical marijuana store permits until
October to write a city ordinance that bans them. Will Eagle County follow?

The article in the Vail Daily, "Another marijuana dispensary
planned," by Sarah Mausolf, states only 69 registered medical
marijuana customers live in Eagle County.

So I am sure the increase in sales taxes will not be a consideration
over my objections to these new medical marijuana stores. I consider
this a misuse of county zoning laws in Edwards' retail space,
especially since seven public and private schools are within walking
distance of these new medical marijuana stores. Our children do not
need to be exposed to these stores and more stores to follow.

The owner of the second store coming to Edwards from Boulder writes
that a "classy and sophisticated" medical marijuana store is needed
in Edwards and "ultimately, a lot of what I imagine I will find in
Vail are people who have had serious injuries ... suffer from
chronic pain" shows what the target audience will become.

These medical marijuana stores will target tourists visiting Vail
during summer events and ski season! What I don't get is that if the
69 registered medical marijuana users can grow six medical marijuana
plants in their own houses, why would they need two medical marijuana
stores in Edwards?

These two stores make no sense unless the new customers are either
out-of-state mail orders, drive-bys off Interstate 70 or skiers who
have very few illnesses to treat.

Will the Vail Valley now be selling drug use to our tourists? Will we
add this to our Vail skier tourist brochures: "Medical marijuana now
available in Edwards, a short 10-mile drive"? Or will our skilled
orthopedic surgeons start recommending for knee operations, "just
smoke a few joints"?

To allow two medical marijuana stores in little Edwards, Colorado, is
an opening for disaster from the customer traffic that will follow
off I-70. I do not want my little town known all over Colorado as the
medical marijuana drug distribution center of the state.

Interesting that down the street in Edwards is a shop that can
provide medical marijuana smokers with their pipes and bongs of
choice to go along with the new stores. Isn't that just wonderful?

If you allow these types of medical marijuana stores in Edwards, more
than medical marijuana will be walking the streets of Edwards. It
will become very scary for the locals, and expect many seniors and
families with children to find other places to live in Colorado.

We currently only have the Sheriff's Office patrolling Edwards at odd
times, so Eagle County can expect to station two sheriff's cars close
to these stores just to keep order and to check on the forged medical
documents that will surely follow.

Richard Carnes' Vail Daily column on Tuesday explains in detail what
is coming -- for $200, anyone without any medical problem can get
registered in Denver to buy medical marijuana.

Is there no common sense left in this county or state? As a voter in
Eagle County, I strongly object to opening medical marijuana stores
in Edwards or any other place in Eagle County. I did not move to
Edwards to live next to two medical marijuana stores.

Medical marijuana may be legal in Colorado since 2000, but there is
no place for these stores in Eagle County! I do not object to the 69
residents who use medical marijuana. I object to the thousands of
future customers coming to Edwards off I-70 and the crime to follow.

Beware of what is allowed in our Edwards commercial retail spaces --
the end result after a few years could destroy our vision of "why we
moved here" to this mountain community! Most of us don't even smoke
and spend most of our time outside hiking, biking or skiing.

Finally, I request our Eagle County commissioners to immediately
initiate a temporary moratorium at the next commissioners meeting on
Tuesday on medical marijuana stores with a long-term goal of banning
medical marijuana stores in Eagle County.

Buddy Sims

Edwards