POT BILL IGNORES VOTERS' INTENT

HB 1284 no longer gives local governments the ability to give voters a
say over dispensaries. Legislators need to get a grip.

A bill that was supposed to put some guardrails on Colorado's runaway
medical marijuana train has been so watered down by recent amendments
that it is a shadow of the original measure. House Bill 1284 was
flawed from the outset because it legitimizes dispensaries, which
never were part of the constitutional amendment passed by voters in
2000.

But after changes made last week - much to the jubilation of medical
marijuana entrepreneurs - the bill no longer gives local governments
the ability to ask residents whether to ban dispensaries.

Even if lawmakers think dispensaries ought to exist, gutting that
voter input provision ought to be a deal breaker.

State lawmakers need to get a grip on this issue, stop giving in to
the marijuana industry's phalanx of well-paid lobbyists and pass a
bill that addresses the problems emerging as Colorado's medical
marijuana scene turns into a back door for marijuana
legalization.

We never bought the argument that because so many people have gotten
medical marijuana cards (via what we think is a flawed process), it
ought to justify dispensaries, which have been springing up like
Starbucks throughout the metro area.

Voters at the local level ought to have the ability to deny
dispensaries a place in their communities. That would give communities
a path back to what we had before the dispensary boom of the past year.

We believe that legislators ought to see the value of allowing voters,
who after all approved the original amendment, a say in the matter.

If communities ban dispensaries, it wouldn't mean they would be
denying the use of medical marijuana. Patients could still get it from
caregivers who each deal with a limited number of patients, as
directed by the Colorado Constitution.

The 2000 constitutional amendment was written - and sold - as a
small-bore solution for patients to grow their own, or if they're too
sick, have a caregiver grow it for them.

Instead, what we have is a vast commercialization that has taken
advantage of an ill-defined measure. Voters did not approve
legalization.

The other deletion from this bill that must be addressed is the
loosening of criminal background checks on people who work in
dispensaries.

Again, we think that even legislators who believe in the dispensary
model ought to see the value in standing firm on having a clean rap
sheet.

Previously, the bill had a provision prohibiting people with any drug
conviction from being involved in dispensaries. The bill was changed
to disqualify those who had convictions within the last five years.

That ought to be an easy call for lawmakers. People who have a record
of criminal drug activity only make the medical marijuana industry
even sketchier.

Laws defining the production and delivery of medical marijuana ought
to remain close to the measure voters passed in 2000. The latest
version of HB 1284 is a far cry from that.