[420 Girl]

Co.- The hand-wringing by lawmakers and others over medical marijuana just tickles me, or floors me. I still cannot tell.

You would think they were handing out AK-47s in the state's proliferating number of dispensaries. The Denver City Council now wants to keep them 1,000 feet away from schools. What is that about?

So, at 1,001 feet from a school, they can sell medical pot by the truckload?

Please.

My favorite proposed law is being dreamed up by state Sen. Chris Romer, whom I admire greatly. But he proposes raising the age at which a patient can legally obtain marijuana for medical use from 18 to 21.

Let us say it is your kid, my kid. Who are you or I going to trust more for what our kids need -- Romer, or our family doctor? How quickly would you find the nearest street dealer to assist your pain-ravaged child? Come on.

We really and truly need grown-ups to step forward in this debate.

Brian Vicente has been one since Amendment 20 allowing medical marijuana use passed almost a decade ago. He is now executive director of Sensible Colorado, the largest medical-marijuana advocacy group in the state.

He spends much of his time attempting to get dyspeptic local and state lawmakers to calm down, reminding them that medical pot is legal in Colorado and assisting them in finding rational ways to regulate its sale.

"All we've ever asked is for reasonable regulation," he said.

He sees, he says, the way the winds are headed, particularly in Denver where it is front-page news that the city has more dispensaries than it has Starbucks and schools.

He calls it the result of "abhorrent, long-standing prejudice against marijuana," some of which, he says, may end up codified into law.

"Denver clearly wants to hide its dispensaries," he says of the 1,000-foot provision in the ordinance that received initial approval Monday night. The city, he notes, has no such provision for pharmacies, which sell some of the strongest, most addictive pain medications known to man.

The next few months will see a "dogfight," he says, over medical marijuana. He points in particular to a bill pushed by law enforcement that would essentially outlaw dispensaries and limit caregivers to no more than five patients.

Depending on the outcome of the various bills, Sensible Colorado is prepared, he said, to sponsor a ballot initiative that would further strengthen the current medical-marijuana laws.

He envisions establishing a uniform application and licensing system for both dispensaries and growers.

The initiative would also seek to create a uniform sales tax statewide, and allow cities to regulate sales through zoning. It would also require enforcement of existing health and safety labeling requirements on all edible-marijuana products, such as brownies.

"To us, regulation is a form of legitimization, that this drug should be brought out of the shadows and into the light."

That there are more dispensaries than Starbucks, Vicente says, to him means but one thing: substantial tax revenue.

"We are talking about $50 million in new tax revenue per year in Colorado that could go to roads, schools and law enforcement," he says. "That is real money, and these are real tough times."

Now that is grown-up talk.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...grown-ups.html