Denver’s Need For Weed Leads To A Call For Regulation And Taxation

11/7/2009

Positively amazing. Weed is burning out of control in the Mile High City.

That is not smog you see, not a haze caused by particulates, nor simple fog brought on by high humidity and a low ceiling. This is not a brush fire started by a controlled burn.

No, ma’am. This particular conflagration is ballot approved. Voters decided in 2000 by approving Amendment 20 that those in need of cannabis sativa as medication for a variety of infirmities should have it available, and “medical marijuana” was born as a treatment option, and an industry.

Then in 2005, by a vote of 53.49 percent to 46.51 percent, Initiative I-100 was passed, allowing anyone over 21 years of age to possess, transport and consume less than one ounce of marijuana. No illness is needed as justification. No cultivating is allowed, no use by youngsters, and no sales. But, under I-100, if you can somehow obtain the drug, you can sit at home and “get baked” free of charges.

While Colorado’s state statutes and federal regulations continue to be in conflict with Denver’s decisions, the word has come down from on high (so to speak) at the local and national level that enforcing those state and federal laws should be the lowest law enforcement priority in the case of small quantities of the demon weed.

Enabled by a lack of regulation of the medical marijuana industry, a sudden explosion in the numbers of people requesting medication and a similar increase in the ranks of those willing to provide “the kind bud” as treatment for what ails you, has resulted in “dispensaries” popping up all over our once weed-phobic neighborhoods. Competing with dry cleaners, art galleries and other segments of the business community for affordable space in which to set up shop.

I made my first visit to such a business recently (calm down, they called to buy an ad) – B•Goods, 80 S. Pennsylvania St., located directly across the street from a townhome I resided in a number of years ago.

How odd to walk in the door of a legally sanctioned retail establishment to see numerous glass decanters on the shelves filled with rather well-formed buds of cannabis. There was no smoke billowing, no black lights, and no Jefferson Airplane playing in the background. Just a couple of young men who had just gotten their “cards” applying for treatment, while an average-looking, middle-aged Joe waited in the lobby area.

Let me add here that my use of such substance was ended many years back (Dec. 6, 1987, to be precise, but that’s another story you might get to hear someday).

My personal position is that marijuana should be dealt with in the same fashion as alcoholic beverages. Yes, marijuana is a gateway drug. Anything that alters your sense of reality is a gateway drug if you’re prone to hating reality, and/or have an addictive nature. But, my reality reveals that 99 percent of the folks I speak to who have abused mind- and mood-altering anything had their first taste of an altered state through the use of alcohol. If marijuana is a gateway, alcohol – due to its easy availability – is one giant tunnel to the other side.

But, I digress.

So what do we do, if anything, about this most interesting change in the retail/healthcare landscape? Right now, there is no law that prevents dispensaries from locating next door to schools, across the street from a church or around the corner from your mom. There are no provisions for ensuring that the medication provided is of any particular quality or standard. No inspection of the growing facilities or testing of the caregivers.

And taxation? All but ignored from a legislative standpoint. Some dispensaries appear to be collecting sales tax on their product, while others seem to be not as attentive to such responsibility.

Interesting that our city inspectors will bring the wrath of God down on you if your front lawn grows too tall and your native plants reach a foot or so in height. But at this point, it is unclear what sort of issues would bring them out to deal with what is quickly becoming Denver’s weed of choice.

Be assured that the landscape will be changing very soon, and probably very substantially. City Council is already floating a variety of plans with which to control the flow of patients and caregivers and regulate the standard of service to better honor patients and the public at large. And it’s hard to believe a revenue-starved city will miss an opportunity to feed off the need for weed.

And take this one to the bank, my friends. Before too awful long, as such legislation becomes more common across our 50 states, and the dollars to be made from the sale of marijuana start to stagger the imagination, you’re going to notice a subtle shift in the dialogue on a national level.

More and more “respectable” voices will speak of the good sense it makes to end the duality, legalize marijuana, and regulate it “responsibly.” And that will occur on a federal level far sooner than you might imagine today. And the growers will not be the local guy with a few dozen plants or even the South American drug lords, but companies like Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, and the distribution will be handled by chains like Walmart and 7-11.

But, for now, there is a cloud over the Queen City of the Plains, and while patience is a good idea if you’re concerned about the collateral issues, depending on how you see things, you may or may not want to take a deep breath.

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