ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE?

"Sweet Jesus," Tom Shipley and Mike Brewer sang in the 1970 release
that became their only real hit, "One Toke Over The Line."

That oft-ignored line has apparently been crossed, not only here in
Happy Valley but in communities in a dozen or so states, as
entrepreneurs rush to open the doors of dispensaries and take
advantage of the recently relaxed stance on "medical marijuana" by
their states and the federal government.

Just this past week, the Grand Junction City Council voted to impose
a one-year moratorium on new business licenses for medical marijuana
dispensaries, and the Fruita council decided to impose liquor-license
like requirements for similar businesses. Fruita will also impose
some geographic restrictions often also seen in the regulation of
"gentlemen's clubs" such as the one now under construction and
consigned to the industrial area between the two cities.

When I lamented to one of my successors on the City Council that I'd
apparently missed another golden (and green) business opportunity, he
reminded me that I still had about a month to get in under the
moratorium wire. I'm actually now thinking "mobile dispensary" out
in the unincorporated areas, assuming I can find a willing part-time
doc to help in this "budding" scheme to finance the motor home we
look forward to touring in during retirement.

I promise, no DWD, aka "Driving While Dispensing."

A lifelong friend who follows my weekly musings from afar messaged me
last week to suggest it looks like there's another line that's been
crossed by perhaps more than a single toke. We've been friends since
before I was born, I've joked. Our parents lived in long-since
demolished adjoining apartments down around Eighth and Main and he
beat me into this world by about 8 months.

This other veteran of the '60s and '70s may be on to
something.

"How long did Prohibition last...12-13 years?" he asked. "And what
did it provide... booze-lords, money, murders y mas."

"So how long will it take for Colorado to realize booze-lords and
drug-lords are one in the same only 90-plus years later? Move from
illegal to legal and tax it.... gee, that does sound very similar to
the end results of Prohibition."

No need to pass judgment on that reasoning. We headed one toke over
that line with the opinion from Colorado's own Republican Attorney
General John Suthers that medical marijuana can be taxed as personal
property. The next jump came with the announcement from Gov. Bill
Ritter, a Democrat, that the state would begin to tax those sales.

Apparently, budget crises make some interesting legal and political
bedfellows. It's also comforting to know that fiscal opportunism
knows no ideological boundaries, though I suspect it may not be long
before we hear some legislators and prosecutors in full roar.

There's likely an element of the bigger picture argument involved in
the haste with which some dispensary operators scrambled aboard the
local regulatory bandwagon this week. There's also a state
association being organized to help formulate regs and be involved in
any action at the legislative level.

I wonder if there'll be any discussion of quality standards or THC
limits and what state agency might provide oversight. Could be the
Department of Regulatory Agencies or perhaps the Department of Public
Health and Environment. What about the Department of Agriculture?
Could there be a marketing order in the future to raise funds for
promotion and perhaps a Colorado Marijuana Board ala the Wine Board?
Or a state board that polices treatment and ethical practices
similar to those overseeing other professions.

I hope it's apparent there's some seriousness in the midst of my
somewhat tongue-in-cheek rambling.

I don't drink much anymore. An occasional beer and a little wine. One
week a year some Knob Creek on the rocks after a day of hunting. It's
probably been about a quarter century since my last personal
experience with the killer weed.

Absent return to the "Reefer Madness" mentality that prompted that
1938 film, a conspicuous example of ineffective scare tactics, it
appears we're much more than "One Toke Over The Line." Some may not
appreciate the way society has evolved thanks to baby boomers and
Millenials and X and Y generations but we probably need to
acknowledge it'd be a well nigh impossible climb back up this
slippery slope.

It was intriguing to discover that Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead fame
played on Brewer and Shipley's hit. And appropriate to conclude that
getting to this point has been an interesting societal journey, a
long and strange trip.

Jim Spehar was never much good at rolling his own but his bad back
and aging knee bother him and he hears it's not that difficult to
obtain cannabis comfort.