MOMS OPPOSE GRAND JUNCTION POT SHOPS

Allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to proliferate across town
sends the wrong message to youth, according to a local group of
mothers with teenagers.

A grass-roots movement of 10 mothers has formed a group called PACT,
Parents Advocating for our Community and Teens, in response to the
negative effects of marijuana use they have witnessed in their teens.

The mothers, with sons who range in age from 15 to 22, claim there
already is pressure for teenagers to do drugs. Making medical
marijuana readily available at cannabis dispensaries essentially
validates the use of the drugs, said Lil Poling, one of the PACT mothers.

Most of the mothers did not want their names used for this story
because it would identify their sons, all of whom have some level of
drug and alcohol addictions.

"It's like it becomes their identity. It becomes normal," one mother
said about marijuana during a recent group meeting. "For me, a pot
shop on every corner is not the normalcy that I want to see for Grand
Junction."

Grand Junction City Council members have yet to vote on the future of
medical-marijuana dispensaries within city limits. They voted earlier
this month not to let voters decide the fate of dispensaries.

Instead, council members at an upcoming meeting will decide whether to
let dispensaries operate as is, operate under increased regulations or
ban the shops altogether. According to a tentative city agenda for
next week, the City Council members will discuss their thoughts on
medical marijuana dispensaries during a 7 p.m. workshop Wednesday.
Public comment is not allowed during council workshops and council
members will not be voting on the issue at that time. Workshops are
intended for council members to discuss their position on an issue and
potentially task city staff with providing more information or
drafting documents toward a stated goal.

Mesa County Commissioners conversely, decided earlier this week to
allow voters to weigh in on the future of medical-marijuana
dispensaries within unincorporated Mesa County.

During two public hearings in August on dispensaries, City Council
members absorbed a large amount of testimony from marijuana-dispensary
proponents and opponents.

Some people who privately said they opposed dispensaries said they
chose not to speak up during the hearings because they feared some
sort of reprisal from medical-marijuana proponents.

While mothers in the PACT group said they do not oppose the use of
medical marijuana for those with legitimate pain, the prominence of
medical-marijuana shops in Grand Junction is concerning.

Since shops started popping up, a drug that was easy for youth to get
became even easier, they said. Youth who started using the drug as
younger teenagers wait until they turn 18 to apply for
medical-marijuana cards to obtain the drug and then sell the drugs to
younger friends, the mothers said.

Calling medical marijuana "medicine" gives youths who are not in pain
the impression it is not damaging to developing bodies, even though
research shows otherwise, Poling said.

According to Colorado's Amendment 20, medical marijuana is legal for
people 18 and older who receive a state-issued medical-marijuana
license. A physician must sign off that a patient has at least one of
eight qualifying conditions. While life-threatening conditions such as
cancer and HIV/AIDS are on the list, so is the more general category
of severe pain.

According to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, 91
percent of the state's medical-marijuana patients receive cards for
severe pain. That brings into question whether some physicians are
using the severe pain catchall as a loophole to collect doctors' fees
for an influx of medical-marijuana-seeking patients.

Mesa County has 843 registered medical-marijuana patients, but that
number likely is outdated as the state cannot keep up with the
hundreds of applications it receives daily. The state is expected to
receive 150,000 applications by the year's end.

All of the PACT mothers said they intervened in their sons' lives
after finding out about their marijuana use. Some sent their children
away to boarding schools or other homes for troubled youth in an
attempt to distance their children from their other drug-using
friends. Other parents disciplined their teens by withholding
privileges, grounding them or taking away their use of a vehicle.
However, many of their teens were not fazed by their lack of freedoms
and, after becoming accustomed to using marijuana, found ways to
continue to use it.

"My kids say, 'You're the only parent who doesn't smoke pot. Other
parents do it,' " one mom said her children told her. "Kids believe
(medical marijuana) is safer and more potent. It's impossible to
convince a kid that it's going to hurt them."