A SAD WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY AND RESOURCES

The politics of pot in Colorado sure seem to be heating up to climax
of some sort, don't you think?

As the state government continues in its determined effort to
overrule the voter-approved legalization of medical marijuana, with
prohibition-style tactics, the entrepreneurs who tried to make a
legal business out of catering to the new market are running scared.

Why else would someone dump three tons of equipment and material,
used in the cultivation of medical marijuana, in a gulch north of Rifle?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the illicit dump
held potting soil, fertilizer containers and "associated trash" that
was placed there over the past two months, although there apparently
were indications the dump site had been used for perhaps a couple of years.

First and foremost, let me say that I abhor the dumping of garbage on
public lands. Whether it's old cars, household appliances, or the
results of a spring cleaning of someone's house, it is reprehensible.

Unfortunately, the practice of dumping unwanted detritus is all too
common, and for time uncounted has been the method of choice for
people too simple-minded to see the damage they are doing, or too
self-centered to care.

The fact that a frightened pot farmer has chosen to burden the public
with his (or her) gear is depressing, but not that surprising.
Couldn't exactly take it to the landfill, now, could they?

Imagine the scene: A truck pulling up to the landfill gate, where the
inevitable examination of the truck's load would result in a quick
call to the cops and a quick trip to the local jail. Even if the
cultivation operation was legitimate, under Colorado's medical
marijuana laws, the situation would prove uncomfortable at best.

In all likelihood, the cops would do their damnedest to get the
farmer behind bars, and once the cell door slammed shut, they would
do all they could to keep it shut and to crank up the machinery of prosecution.

It all seems to me to be just one more example of how we have allowed
a police-state mentality to overshadow the will of the voters. In the
year 2000, it should be noted, the voters of Colorado passed an
amendment to the state constitution legalizing the use of marijuana
for medical purposes.

Unfortunately for advocates of that law, the state has done what it
could to reverse the voters' will, throwing up statutory roadblocks
and laying legalistic land mines along the legislative road to
regulation of the burgeoning industry, making it as difficult as
possible to fulfill the intent of the amendment.

And now, we learn, a subsidiary group of the Cannabis Therapy
Institute has filed suit to overturn portions of the state
legislature's medical marijuana laws, on the grounds that the laws
are designed "to restrict patient access to medicine and violate
patient privacy rights guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution," as
stated in a news release issued on June 30 by the Institute.

The group behind the suit is named the Patient and Caregiver Rights
Litigation Project, and it is arguing that the medical marijuana laws
improperly limit a patient's right to choose his or her caregiver,
which is the term used to describe people who grow and sell medical marijuana.

Lest we forget, the laws are a reflection of a knee-jerk belief that
marijuana is evil, a belief that has its roots in early 20th century
racism and corruption. A prevailing bigotry of the era held that pot
was the drug of choice for minorities and jazz musicians, and that
those groups were horny for white women. The fear and intolerance
created by those lies is still in force today among a certain noisy
subset of our population, and timid politicians are easily swayed by
the shouts and threats emanating from this subset.

Another point that should not be ignored is that the state is
thrashing around trying to wipe out what is, in light of the
constitutional amendment, a legitimate industry. The mere fact of
that industry's growth, not to mention the majority vote that created
the industry, is proof that our legislature, the cops and, in fact,
the political power structure of the state, are on the wrong side of
this fight.

It is all a waste of public money and resources, for no good reason.