STOP BLOWING SMOKE AND FIND A MARIJUANA POLICY THAT
WORKS

The Aurora City Council this week helped set into motion one of
Colorado's most contentious legal debates for years to come.

The council moved another step closer Monday night to approving a
November ballot issue asking voters whether to ban medical marijuana
dispensaries - and just about every other associated outlet including
grow operations - within city limits.

The question comes after the state Legislature passed and Gov. Bill
Ritter signed a series of bills this year attempting to clean up the
vague language passed by voters a decade ago.

While it's clear that voters in 2000 agreed that marijuana has
medicinal value for clearly ill individuals, it's unclear if the
voters envisioned a booming industry with hundreds of dispensaries and
tens of thousands of "patients" flooding state rolls with
inexplicable, sudden back pain.

In an attempt to at least resolve some of the confusion regarding the
voter-approved amendment, legislators took up the issue this year and
passed out two bills that fall far short of clearing up the issue.

Included in the bill are prescriptions for where dispensaries can be,
patient-physician relationships and licensing regulations, all of
which were important steps for reining in the booming industry.
However, the bill was passed and signed with one big hole left in the
middle.

Pressured by Colorado municipalities and law enforcement, legislators
included a local control clause within the bills allowing cities and
counties in Colorado the option to opt out of Amendment 20 by banning
dispensaries within city or county limits by either popular vote or
statute passed out of elected bodies like city councils.

On the surface, the local control clause sounded like business as
usual. Colorado has long held a tradition of local control for cities
and counties, but this goes too far. And several groups have said
they're simply waiting until a municipality actually passes one of
these citywide bans to pounce on the idea in court. That's exactly the
wrong place to decide whether patients in Colorado can receive
legitimate treatment.

In the past, we've supported a long look at whether current federal
drug laws and the billions spent to enforce them are logical
considering the plant is easier to buy and more potent than ever.

Voter intent was clear in 2000 that Colorado supports medicinal
marijuana, and current polls suggest that the sentiment has changed
little since.

Allowing counties, cities and municipalities to revise their own ideas
of what voters meant in 2000 is the wrong course to take. Just as it's
the wrong idea to force into court the issue that cities that seek
some clarity on the confusion surrounding medicinal marijuana must
adhere strictly to the vague outline that voters approved in 2000 and
legislators lightly cleared this year.

Simply put, medicinal marijuana is a medical issue right
now.

Cities aren't asking voters whether they want to deny legitimately ill
patients their medicine; they're skirting issues and presupposing that
dispensaries within city limits mean a free-for-all on pot. That's
wrong.

Just as pharmacies and physicians are licensed and regulated by the
state, medical marijuana should fall under the same purview.

The state did little to help itself in clearing up proper dosing
methods, prescription methods and possession limits so patients don't
become suppliers themselves in the bills they passed this year. That
was the work that they were tasked to do, and instead of holding them
up to that idea, we're left with a ticking bomb waiting to explode in
the courts.

Aurora is likely in the crosshairs of organizations looking to
challenge the constitutionality in court, considering Colorado's
third-largest city could be the biggest platform to test those laws.

By asking voters in November again whether they support medicinal
marijuana in Aurora, we're opening up another argument. Instead,
citizens should hold their legislators to creating a manageable system
for medical marijuana within the state before the July 2011 moratorium
deadline expires. That's what voters approved and what we expect.