SENSIBLE MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT POLICY?

Should The Telluride Marshal's Department Be Directed To
Give Its Lowest Priority To Enforcing Laws Controlling The Personal
Use Of Marijuana By Adults?

While the proponents of that question call it a "sensible" marijuana
enforcement policy, opponents made it clear during a meeting of the
Telluride Town Council on Tuesday that in their view a permissive
marijuana policy is anything but sensible.

Rather than weigh in on either side of the emotional debate, members
of council opted instead to send the question to the November ballot.

Given 82 valid signatures out of 157 submitted, or well over the 43
required, the Telluride Town Council could, under provisions of the
Town Charter, either adopt the proposed ordinance or submit it to
voters. Council unanimously agreed it should go to the voters.

Those voters are likely to hear both sides of the issue in the
upcoming campaign, with both proponents and opponents expressing
strong views on Tuesday. Marijuana users are either unfairly singled
out for persecution - as compared to those who drink alcohol or smoke
cigarettes - at a high social cost or they are poor role models for
children. As a Colorado home rule municipality, Telluride either can
or cannot openly defy federal and state laws. Amid these
disagreements, one point of apparent agreement from both sides is that
Telluride by adopting the ordinance would be sending a message to the
state and nation that the town favors the decriminalization of
marijuana. But depending on which side you are on, that is either a
step in the right direction or a terrible mistake.

"I find some very disturbing things over the past years in terms of
the drug wars," said Ernest Eich, who circulated the petitions. "Why
are certain things illegal? Why can we have alcohol but we can't
have marijuana? Why are we waging war on our own citizens?"

The proposed ordinance, he emphasized, "would not legalize the use of
marijuana, but it would make the request to the state to decriminalize
and regulate marijuana."

Eich said that the proposed ordinance is similar in its intent and
effect to laws already approved by voters in Seattle and Oakland, and
that a ballot question is going before Denver voters in November.

The ordinance was drafted, Eich said, by Brian Vicente, a lawyer and
the director of Sensible Colorado, whom he introduced. Vicente told
council that San Miguel County has the fourth highest rate of
marijuana arrests among Colorado counties, repeated Eich's observation
that violent crime is rising in Telluride - 12 percent in 2004,
according to the Telluride Marshal's Department's Annual Report - and
said, "We're convinced of the legality of this measure."

Vicente also responded to concerns expressed by a number of people
about the effect of permissive policies on children by saying that his
organization is largely concerned with preventing drug use by minors.

"It's our view that a regulated system where licensed dealers are
required to verify the age of buyers is a far more effective way to
keep drugs out of hands of children than the current system," he said.
Marijuana has been readily available to children since the start of
the war on drugs.

Telluride resident Dick Kearny observed that "95 percent of violent
crimes involve substance abuse," to which Vicente replied that it is
alcohol, not marijuana, that contributes to violence, although he
allowed he would like to see more studies on the matter.

Ron Gilmer told council he has served on the Governors Advisory
Council for HIV and is an "authority on medical marijuana."

"I think it would be a big step forward to show the state that we
support this sort of thing," Gilmer said. "Medical marijuana has been
allowed for four years in Colorado, and has caused no problems....
[This would] certainly support the future use of medical marijuana."

But local therapist Marveen Reagan said that the question of medical
use of marijuana is distinct from the question of a "softer policy in
Telluride." As a mental health professional for forty years, Reagan
said, "I am a proponent of managing people's comfort and quality of
life" by the use of medical marijuana. "But I see families all the
time, many of them your children, and they are very confused as they
grow up in this community. Many of the people they look up to and
respect are comfortable using marijuana. Many people use substances to
fill emotional holes. There are ways to fill them that are positive,
but filling them with alternative substances is not how we want to
role model it."

Mike Dorsey told council he has been a full-time Telluride resident
for a year, and was a member of the White House Council on Drug Free
Policy during the Reagan years.

"Marijuana is an illegal drug and is classified as illegal drug by
federal law," he said. "It's inappropriate to create a priority [for
local police], saying this one item is the lowest priority. Law
enforcement is a flexible matter. To tie the hands of the Marshal's
Department, to say that this is the lowest priority no matter what is
going on, is not appropriate. And as for trying to send the message
that marijuana should be decriminalized, I think that's inappropriate
for the families of Telluride. If we pass this ordinance, we're
sending a message to the nation that Telluride supports the
decriminalization of marijuana if not the legalization of marijuana. I
think that's the wrong message to send to people.

Peggy Rhodes of Grand Junction identified herself as a medical user of
marijuana, suffering from an autoimmune disease that gives her chronic
nausea. "I can't eat and I need medical grade herb," she told council.
"This is not really two separate issues. I've been harassed. I'm a
patient advocate. You guys are progressive, ballsy, fairly liberal.
I hope you say, publicly and nationally, 'yes, we will support this,'
so people like me can get our medicine legally".

Councilmember Andrea Benda made a point, before council voted, that
for council to put the question on the ballot would be "in no way an
endorsement or denial of the content of the proposal. We are simply
putting it on the ballot."

Added Councilmember Stu Fraser: "The conversation taking place here
is good. There's been lots of back and forth. That's what an election
is about."

And then council voted unanimously to let the voters
decide.