MEDICAL POT SUPPORTERS WARY OF POLICE TACTICS

Police Say Marijuana Rules Not Clear

Colorado Springs police accept that medical marijuana is "here to
stay," in the words of spokesman Lt. David Whitlock.

But recent statements from some of the top cops in El Paso County
make medical marijuana supporters wonder: Are police and prosecutors
pushing to extinguish medical pot at a time when federal authorities
appear closer than ever to recognizing it as a legitimate medicine?

Brian Vicente, of Sensible Colorado, a prominent Colorado medical
marijuana advocacy group, said many medical pot growers support the
city's recent call for "common-sense" regulations for marijuana
dispensaries, such as limiting advertisements and keeping them away
from schools.

But he said that discussion of the issue in Colorado Springs is
marred by rhetoric painting medical pot as a magnet for crime, a
charge he claims is grounded more in "hysteria" than reality.

"I'd love to see some hard data when they say that medical marijuana
is fostering crime," Vicente said.

The Colorado Springs City Council took up the prospect of regulating
dispensaries only days after the Department of Justice announced that
federal authorities would no longer target state-sanctioned growers
of medical pot.

As part of the discussions, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard
Myers and Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May provided an
overview of their problems with pot dispensaries. They cited a
laundry list of concerns from robberies to the potential for abuse of
medical pot.

The city is not alone in grappling with the state's medical marijuana
trade, established in 2000 after voters approved Amendment 20.

On Friday, Summit County commissioners ordered a four-month
moratorium on new dispensaries until they determine how to regulate
the business.

In the absence of state law governing dispensaries, other communities
have turned to code enforcement. Aurora, for example, bans
dispensaries outright, saying that pot is illegal under federal law,
and therefore violates municipal codes.

Leaders in Colorado Springs signaled Monday that the city would take
a similar stand and rely on code enforcers to shutter problematic
dispensaries while a special task force mulls long-term regulations.
In the meantime, medical marijuana advocates protest signs that the
city could take a hard line against the medical marijuana business.

In a tone that some advocates saw as alarmist, May warned the City
Council of home invasion robberies and "a half-dozen" burglaries tied
to dispensaries, and suggested that Amendment 20 is being exploited
by unethical doctors and drug dealers who are abusing the mantle of
"caregiver" to conduct illegal sales in the open.

Police records show there have been eight burglaries and one robbery
this year at the city's 24 medical marijuana dispensaries, Whitlock
said. That's a tiny portion of those crimes in Colorado Springs
where, in the first half of 2009 alone, there were 1,659 burglaries
and 258 robberies, police statistics show.

Whitlock declined to provide details about crimes at the city's
dispensaries, saying he didn't want to invite criminals to such
"target-rich" environments. Police this week also declined a
Colorado Open Records Act request for the addresses of pot
dispensaries for the same reason.

Vicente, of Sensible Colorado, countered that the same "anecdotal
evidence" could be invoked to attack liquor stores and pharmacies as
havens for crime. They, too, are routinely targeted by criminals, he said.

"People realize that pharmacies are needed in the community, and
they're selling drugs that are far more dangerous than marijuana," he said.

Others took aim at May's reference to a local doctor who was arrested
in September on suspicion of arranging what amounts to a pot
prescription for an undercover cop for $300 in cash.

The suspect, Dr. Peter W.S. Grigg of Colorado Springs, was already
facing a federal indictment in Denver on unrelated allegations that
he was dealing Ecstasy and writing prescriptions for OxyContin, a
powerful painkiller, records show.

For critics like Robert Corry Jr., a Denver defense attorney and
medical pot advocate, Grigg's case says more about the dangers of a
rogue physician than the shortcomings of Colorado's medical marijuana laws.

"For him to use that as an example just smacks of desperation," Corry said.

In a presentation to El Paso County commissioners a day after the
City Council meeting, Sheriff Terry Maketa warned that lax regulation
could foster "mega-growing facilities" and breed a new "black market" for pot.

"That's absurd," Corry said. "There's already a black market for
marijuana, and Sheriff Maketa and other law enforcement officials
can't do anything to shut it down. They've certainly tried."

Supporters of Amendment 20 counter that pot dispensaries tend to
undercut illegal traffic, by providing safe and open access to
marijuana rather than driving medical marijuana patients to deal with
street gangs and other dangerous elements.

Whitlock said that Chief Myers was "adamant" in his presentation to
City Council: Police are not out to abolish the dispensaries.

Instead, he said, police want concrete guidelines from state and
local lawmakers that make it easier to separate legitimate marijuana
providers from run-of-the-mill drug dealers.

"This is not about medical marijuana and Amendment 20. The people
have spoken, and that's here to stay," Whitlock said. "What it is
about is coming up with some sort or rule, some sort of set of
guidelines where we can do a better job of protecting the product
that they're trying to dispense."

Deputy District Attorney Dan Zook said prosecutors, too, want
lawmakers to address questions surrounding medical pot.

"That's our duty - to present to the city the problems we're seeing
from the DA's point of view," he said. "They are the ones who
determine what their steps should be in terms of regulation and outlawing."

Roger Ronas, a medical marijuana user in Colorado Springs, said the
police focus on isolated problems with dispensaries shows they
haven't given up their war on pot.

"Those are the abuses," said Ronas, who said he needs marijuana to
treat complications of kidney failure, among other ailments. "Well,
there's always going to be abuses with any system, and they know that."