FORT COLLINS MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTERS: REGRESSION IN A PROGRESSIVE TOWN?

by Amandha Gilson

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Even if you don’t use medical marijuana but especially if you do, the November mail-in ballot for this year’s election matters to YOU! Why? Well let me tell you a little bit about what’s going on. There was a petition made by area residents and businesses alike to put a vote on the mail-in ballot regarding the existence of medical marijuana centers within city limits. Medical marijuana centers are places that medicinal marijuana card holders can go to get their ailment relief either in the form of the herb or many of the other holistic offerings these centers usually offer. The centers were originally allowed to open in an effort by the city to regulate, control, tax, and otherwise monitor the sales and consumption of medical marijuana. Now let me make a point here: The opening of the centers simply moved the unregulated growing and distributing of marijuana from our local neighborhoods (as it had been since before medical marijuana was legalized), to places of business where the state now receives revenue and ensures the safety of legal distribution. The public existence of these centers is where the tension lays between supporters of the ban and non-supporters.

Supporters of the ban have made arguments about crime and the city’s reputation surrounding the appearance of the centers, and other such issues that honestly have been around since before the terming of “medical marijuana” and it then being in the hands of the state. Before marijuana was legalized and these centers allowed to open, growing and sales happened in local neighborhoods, without a special eye keeping watch over each detail and person. Now that there is a record, and a very detailed one at that (from seed to sale), the lay person is able to pick and choose what evidence they want to use for their side of the argument. This seems to be the case with all politics, and it doesn’t stop here. There is evidence to support both sides of the argument; the problem is that the supporters of the ban are looking at what they are able to pull from what’s only been documented since the arrival of the regulations. The crime-related cons they are finding, however, have no documented comparison of both before and after the centers were allowed to open. However, even a simple comparison of all “drug” crimes before centers opened to now would show that marijuana-related crimes have decreased substantially. Marijuana used to get lumped in with everything else “illegal.” Now that it stands out on its own, as it becomes more accepted as a method of alternative medicine, it is being viewed as creating negative outcomes for our fine city. Well people, if you haven’t already figured it out thus far, I will tell you: Marijuana has probably been in your neighborhood since before you got there. It’s a simple fact, but more true than most would like to admit.

If we are all able to admit that, then we might have a fighting chance at doing this right. The point being made for those AGAINST the ban is very simple and solid. MMJ CENTERS CREATE A REGULATED, TAX RECEIVING, MONITORABLE, AND NEIGHBORHOOD SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS AND THE PUBLIC. When put in more detail, it goes like this: If the ban passes, MMJ centers will close. This means to the city that the tax revenue will cease (the same tax revenue which could potentially allow Colorado to get out of the red and into the black), growers will have to move their operations back into their homes (back into YOUR neighborhood), and legality monitoring will be nearly impossible due to the number of private grow homes that will explode.

My next point must recognize history and our rapid steps towards the doom of repeating it. Remember the days of prohibition? Yes, that was a really long time ago, but there once was a time when liquor was viewed in a similar fashion to marijuana. Liquor was once unregulated, untaxed, and seen as the “juice of the devil” by those of the non-understanding mind. It got taken through the legal wringer just like marijuana is now. But we have the opportunity to change our repetitive course. During prohibition, liquor use and sales were outlawed. The result was an exponential increase in the “illegal” consumption of and sales of liquor. Undoubtedly, liquor crimes increased until someone made the decision to take the wild liquor beast and reign in on it with taxes and laws. I feel that what we are trying to prevent by voting against the ban is the interim period in which prohibition created the most danger to the public. It is my opinion that even if the ban passes, in a couple years, with all the other states jumping on board with the legalization of marijuana, centers will be reopened and will become part of the public eye just like liquor stores and bars. So why do we need to repeat the mistakes we made during prohibition and miss out on the opportunity to receive tax revenue and keep our neighborhoods safe? That’s one important idea I feel is being left out of the thoughts of supporters of the ban: the simple recognition that liquor use (which has many more impairment effects than marijuana) once went through the same history that marijuana is going through now, and if the past has anything to do with the present, we will unfortunately be doomed to a reemergence of marijuana-related crimes. Let’s not make the same mistake again, please.

If we are to keep moving forward, to be adults and learn from our past mistakes, we must realize that this ban will not have a positive outcome for either supporters or non-supporters. It doesn’t re-illegalize marijuana. It doesn’t make private growing for or being a caregiver for a medical marijuana patient illegal. All it does is close down public centers that are trying to provide an alternative form of medicine in the most safe and respectable way possible. Those of us who see the benefits of marijuana as an alternative to pharmaceutical treatments (that, by the way, have such a long list of side-effects, one almost would rather live with their ailment) have taken every step necessary to ensure that it is treated as a medicine and not as a “street drug.” That is the beauty of these centers. Those of us who know the benefits of the medicinal side of marijuana are trying to educate the public through example. If the ban passes, all the progress of city regulation and security and public education will be lost.

Now that you have my opinion on the issue, please take the time to make sure you’re registered to vote for the mail-in election. Either way you feel about it, please vote and let the city know how you feel about MMJ Centers. A vote AGAINST the ban will keep the centers OPEN and your neighborhood safe and free of private, unmonitored marijuana grow operations. You can check your voter status online in less than 30 seconds at GoVoteColorado.com.

To find out more information about the ban, please visit CitizensForSaferNeighborhoods.org. This is a mail-in ballot election. Ballots must be received by November 1, so please check your mail and send in your vote!

Category: Noco Music Scene