COMMERCIAL MARIJUANA DEALERS HAVE CREATED A PERFECT STORM

Without resorting to hyperbole or what the other side calls "reefer
madness," we believe two factors have come together at this time to
create what we think is the perfect storm, to enable the worst
possible scenario for us and our future in Fort Collins: commercial
marijuana dealerships and those who've made a mockery of the medical
marijuana card.

The 20 commercial pot shops in Fort Collins and the geometric
proliferation of those obtaining cards who have no legitimate need for
them has led to a massive increase in the numbers of those using
marijuana without fear of the legal, physical or psychological
consequences. These bode ill for our future together.

We are not referring to the relatively small number of those who
actually need marijuana to palliate the symptoms of end-stage or
chronic illness. These folks were well cared for by existing
caretakers allowed by Amendment 20. Regardless of the pro-MMD lobby's
claims, they will be well cared for when the commercial dealerships
are gone because their actual number is relatively small. Patients in
true need are not the issue.

The issue that hasn't been well discussed is the huge "new base" of
recreational and potentially addicted users that has been essentially
created or at least facilitated by the easy access and perceived
reduction in risk to health, especially among adolescents. The fact is
virtually anyone 18 or older can get a card to obtain marijuana from a
pot doctor. Other writers have noted the dramatic increase in
marijuana incidents in local schools since the pot dealers came to
town. Absolutely no coincidence here. And Sheriff Justin Smith and
others have documented cardholders purchasing their "regulated limit"
from multiple pot shops. This creates an overabundance of pot, some of
which is being sold to kids and to markets across the country.

So here's what we mean by the "perfect storm." It is an undeniable
fact that increased substance use and abuse leads to increased crime.
When people are drunk, stoned or high (impaired by substances), they
take more risks, do more outrageous things, get into more fights
(verbal and physical), have more accidents and commit more crime.
Witness the chaos, property destruction, injuries and arrests that
resulted from the riot at Rams Pointe near Colorado State University
the first week of school. Most all were drunk. It's a safe bet that
many were stoned, as well.

Regardless of pot dealers and their advocates' claims of how
"regulated" and "safe" their shops and internal transactions are,
simply their presence and "doing business" in the community leads to
more people using pot, which leads to more crime, which is not in the
best interest of our life together. As Jerri Howe noted in her recent
Soapbox (referencing the Office of National Drug Control Policy), a 3
million person increase in the number of those regularly using drugs
(primarily marijuana) since 2007 is attributable to the increasing
number of states permitting the use of medical marijuana. More
substance use and abuse always equals more crime.

For us, this means that allowing commercial pot dealerships to
continue will most certainly continue contributing to the exponential
increase in crime in the city. A perfect storm has been created that
can be substantially abated by your voting for Citizens' Initiative
300, to ban the pot dealerships in Fort Collins.