Feds Crack Down On Colorado Medical Pot Dispensaries

[Purveyor]

DENVER (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in Colorado launched a crackdown on Thursday against nearly two dozen medical marijuana dispensaries located within 1,000 feet of schools, giving the proprietors 45 days to cease operations or face civil and criminal penalties.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh issued the ultimatum in letters to 23 dispensaries and landlords he said were in violation of federal and state law, a statement from the U.S. Justice Department said.

The move makes Colorado the latest battleground pitting federal prosecutors against storefront distributors of pot in states that have decriminalized marijuana for medical purposes.

“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools,” Walsh said.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/13/feds-crack-down-on-colorado-medical-pot-dispensaries/

[HopeHoops]

1. Tell the feds to get in line if they want some bong hits.

[RKP5637]

2. We have such twisted priorities in this country IMO.

[tridim]

3. Again, as in CA the dispensaries are breaking STATE law.

The CO dispensaries that are not breaking state law remain open and thriving.

Like clockwork, the media and their willing DU megaphones overreact and obfuscate.

[hlthe2b]

9. Are you saying that state law requires them to be 1000 feet from schools?

I know Colorado Springs tried to pass this as an ordinance, but I don't know that there is any such state restriction.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. Another DUer on a similar thread posted that there isn't.

[tridim]

13. There is loads of disinformation about the subject on DU. Beware.

[Robb]

11. Yes it is state law.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19729288

Congressman Jared Polis, who has defended Colorado's medical-marijuana laws in Washington, said a 1,000-foot buffer from schools makes sense and did not express outrage at the limited crackdown. He said dispensaries should comply with the 1,000-foot limit in state law.

[tridim]

12. Yes, there are maps with circles around schools for that specific purpose.

My partners and I had to give up many prime locations because of the law. In the end our investors backed out so it became a moot point.

BTW I don't agree with the law, but that's how it is.

[DreamSmoker]

21. Wrong again....

This is about Power and control..
Federal laws over State laws..
Its also about the States laws conflicting with Federal Laws..
So pulling this 1,000" safety zone for the safety of Children out to Raid Dispensaries and shut them down is pure Bullsh--
This aspect is being manipulated by LEOs and Officials who want MMJ shut down.. FACT

Colorado is one of the best models in the entire Country for distribution of MMJ to Patients.. FACT again..

Reality is the Feds are looking at any excuse to shut down MMJ in every State that has made it legal for Patients medical use..

And once again... President Obama sits silently in charge as the next election year approaches...

You can harp all you want that Obama supports MMJ for Patients use..
The Facts and actions today and in the recent past clearly show otherwise...

Obama does support this Governments continuing ignorance and use of Federal Resources to shut down access to MMJ to All
in America..

[tridim]

23. You don't know jack-squat about CO's MMJ laws.

I dealt with them when I was trying to open a dispensary and collective IN COLORADO.

Quit spreading your disinformation on DU.

[theaocp]

30. Why are the fedz enforcing a state law?

Do they not have anything better to do? I imagine the state authorities can and should handle their own business.

[KansDem]

4. Gotta keep the market open for Big Pharma!!!

As pointed out on The Young Turks, this crackdown is nothing more than a process of eliminating the competition for Big Pharma. GW Pharmaceutical and other manufacturers want to take over the marijuana market with products like Sativex, a liquid extract of cannabis that contains both THC and CBD.

http://www.theweedblog.com/obamas-medical-marijuana-crackdown-all-about-big-pharma/

Capitalists don't want competition!

[phleshdef]

8. Thats ridiculously ignorant. There are a hell of a lot of dispensaries that their NOT shutting down.

The fact is, some of these dispensaries are asking to be shut down by being irresponsible idiots about it.

[Uncle Joe]

17. I have to wonder at the double standard, are pharmacies required to be more than a 1000 ft

from schools?

[phleshdef]

19. Theres no community/social stigma to deal with in regard to pharmacies, so it really doesn't matter.

Use some common sense. There is absolutely nothing unreasonable about a regulation that says you can't sell marijuana within X feet of a school. Its because of the very real (and very misguided) stigma that surrounds marijuana. Anyone who thought legalization would happen without regulations to ease community misgivings about it is kidding themselves. It should be expected. And if we want to prove that we can have legal marijuana, medical or otherwise, and have it responsibly, then it should be followed. Period.

[Uncle Joe]

20. If cannabis were legalized along the lines of alchohol I could agree with you, but

the way I understand it these laws were passed to use cannabis for medicinal purposes, the same standard as drugs sold in a pharmacy should apply.

As to the issue of "stigmas" more people have died from prescription drug abuse than any other drug, no one has died from a cannabis overdose. So why shouldn't "common sense" be applied in the equal treatment of those institutions that sell medicinal drugs whether it be cannabis or Rush Limbaugh's favorite Oxycontin?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2924948

"Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives were ordered to pay a $634.5 million fine on Friday for misleading the public about the painkiller's risk of addiction.

U.S. District Judge James Jones levied the fine on Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer after a hearing that lasted about four-and-a-half hours. The hearing included statements by numerous people who said their lives were changed forever by the addiction potential of OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.

Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected.

From 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2002, the DEA said the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318."

[phleshdef]

22. None of that really matters. Public perception is what it is.

Public perception of a CVS or Walgreens being near a school is nothing like public perception of a marijuana dispensary being near a school.

I know all about the dangers of Oxycontin. I originally grew up in southern appalachia, where its a horrible, horrible problem.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Apparently public perception thought well enough of cannabis, despite decades of

corporate media demonization propaganda to legalize it for medicinal purposes in the first place.

This kind of policy does nothing to elevate or change any potential misguided public perception with such disparate treatment when applied to same use products or institutions.

This is just another form of "seperate but equal;" that policy didn't help elevate race consciousness and this one won't enlighten the people as to the truth about drugs.

[phleshdef]

26. Ok, I'm sorry, but thats a bunch of pious garbage.

Don't compare the fight for legalization of marijuana to the fight for racial equality. Thats utterly absurd. Its not even in the same ballpark.

And medicinal marijuana did not become legal in these states with 100% consensus. Don't pretend like it did. A lot of people who support it still support these kinds of restrictions as well.

This doesn't even apply to "separate but equal". Don't insult the people that actually have to endure "separate but equal" type legislations by lumping in pro-legalization advocacy with it. Thats a bunch of "woah is me" bullshit. "Oh woah is me, the government won't let me sell weed near a school, woah is little old fucking me!". Spare me. Go sell the shit somewhere else until people have had time to evolve their point of view. You aren't going to win by shoving it down everyone's throat.

The idea isn't to enlighten everyone of the truth about drugs. The idea is to give voters who have misguided problems with marijuana a little bit of comfort. It will take years of the public living with legal marijuana before it becomes just as comfortable with the idea as it is with legalized alcohol or legalized pain medication.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Which and/or how many states had/have 100% consensus in regards to the fight for racial equality?

I wasn't comparing the fights, so much as the dynamics of human psychology, it did take a near century for enough people to get "comfortable" ending Jim Crow.

So you can relax and chill, no harm done, we can wait a century for the people to get "comfortable" because this is only about "selling weed near schools" right?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10167152

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/153755/how_legal_pot_could_save_thousands_of_lives_hint%3A_stop_feeding_the_mexican_death_cartels_/

"Let’s forget the speculation and get to certainties: what is plain as day is the fact that the demand for cannabis sativa is responsible for more deaths in Mexico than anything else—and after half a decade of unrelenting bloodshed—the body count just recently surpassed the 50,000 mark. Personally, that’s a bitter pill to swallow considering 50 percent of Americans now believe marijuana should be outright legalized, according to Gallup’s most recent poll from October 2011.

For over forty years, ganja has been the steadiest and most reliable source of income for Mexican traffickers, and it’s still the primary substance that lures most wannabe sicarios into the drug running game. Most green-horn dope peddlers don’t get their start by transporting tons of coke at a time; rather, they have to earn their stripes by moving up the marijuana food chain—and many don’t make it past that point in their careers to begin with.

(snip)

Having worked extensively along the border as a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security (Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s office of Homeland Security Investigations, or ICE HSI, to be exact), I know firsthand the futility behind continuing to wage an all-out war against a plant, especially one that American consumers are demanding more than ever.[/] Realistically, when it comes to the sheer volume of weed arriving daily from Mexico, the entire border from Brownsville to San Diego is like a full-time smuggling feeding frenzy, with DHS personnel practically cross-trained as factory workers in light of the constant pot seizures and undercover controlled deliveries. Lord knows my former brothers would be helping the U.S. more by making better use of their time, like dismantling human trafficking networks for example. These cells are active all across the country, and they’re responsible for numerous deaths—like the gruesome slaying recently of Carina Saunders outside of Oklahoma City.

(snip)

Ultimately, it’s a futile waste of time to try and play the percentage game when it comes to an illicit commodity like marijuana, or the potential far-reaching effects that Mexico’s eternal violence will have for everyday Americans. There are too many unknowns that need to be factored in. It’s best to stick with the facts, and the facts in this case are rather simple: millions of Americans like to toke marijuana—and the amount of users is on the rise (despite law enforcement’s best efforts at cracking down). Meanwhile, violence as a result of marijuana prohibition has no end in sight and it too is also on the rise. If this trend continues, Mexico could not only crumble to pieces, but it could do so while collapsing more and more into the United States. In other words, something has got to give, and it has to give sooner rather than later before we all feel the harsh and realistic effects of our nation’s failed drug policy."

[phleshdef]

28. You have no reason to flood me with a wall of text, I ultimately want legalization.

But I'm willing to tolerate some silly rules along the way to make dumbfucks feel better about it. If we try to manhandle the country into accepting it, the resistance will just become more dug in.

To make a shamelessly, gutteral analogy... we have to lube it up real nice as we slip it in.

[Robb]

5. 23 dispensaries ain't a "crack down," Reuters.

I could spot 23 dispensaries if I climbed on my roof.* We have a lot in Colorado. They are amusingly more prevalent than Starbucks in Denver.





* Note hyperbole for effect. I suspect I could however see five or six.

[phleshdef]

7. Some people in Cali and Colorado are ABUSING their new found freedom. As a pro-legalization advocate

...it pisses me off and they DESERVE to be shut down.

They are opening up dispensaries right and left. They are opening them up in places where they shouldn't be opened, like near schools and places like that. While other people are going out and getting a doctor's note for any little ailment they can cook up in order to obtain some weed (when they probably don't need it outside of recreational usage).

Best case scenario, I want marijuana legalized and regulated like alcohol. Worst case scenario, I want simple possession completely decriminalized and medical use legalized. I have used it for recreational purposes myself. I'm not anti-weed by any stretch of the imagination. And thats why I think some of these places deserve to be raided and shut down. They are abusing the new found freedoms their states have given them and it makes us all look bad. It makes us look like we can't handle bringing legal weed to America responsibly.

And then a bunch of DUers get all up in arms about it, acting like we should expect the government to look the other way when there is such blatant disregard for both state and federal laws. Wake the hell up. Some of these dispensaries are HURTING the cause.

[uncle ray]

15. actually, the bar keeps moving.

i can only comment on my state, Colorado, though. the truth is, even the scummiest of the owners(yes there are some) are jumping through endless bureaucratic hoops, changing laws and great expense to keep their doors open. no proprietor has said "hey, look! a school. lets set up a dispensary next door so we can sell pot to kids!" we are talking about the difference between being 300ft from a school, or 1000ft after the business owner has established a very expensive storefront operation complying with state law. this puts owners in a bad spot because no matter what they do they will be violating some federal law.

[phleshdef]

16. If that were true, there would be a lot more dispensaries getting shut down than there is.

[DreamSmoker]

29. So True

Last edited Fri Jan 13, 2012, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

I too have been here..
Its so bad that even Local Governments are playing games and costing the Tax Payers huge amount of cash doing it..

Heres one for ya,
99% of all Cities and Counties refuse to give these Places a Business License to operate..
Cities use this to keep Dispensaries out..
Most say that these Places violate Federal law and there for they violate local Ordinances..
A simple trick but used every day....
So reality is that Federal all the way down to your local Governments have defied the States laws
just to keep MMJ access away from Kids...
Basically scare those Parents that believe the Governments position and have virtually no clue of the reality or real facts about Cannabis..

Another Fact is that these Dispensaries are not opened to just anyone who wants to get high..
Especially Kids...
Not opened to the general Public either..
Only Patients who have a Doctors Rec get inside...

So what is this Fear of Dispensaries to close to Kids and Schools based on????
Ignorance and Fear...

[Froward69]

14. yet another attempt to make shit up

Really??? the republican feds with an incarceration fetish are at it again. seems like they could go after real crimes like bank fraud or chasing real criminals that deal Cocaine and heroin. BUT NOOOO they go after easy targets like medicinal storefronts.

never mind the Pharmacies or Liquor stores across the STREET from schools.

[phleshdef]

18. Many states have the same kind of laws regarding liquor stores.

And if you think they aren't chasing cocaine and heroine dealers, theres a lot of cocaine and heroin dealers sitting in prison right now that would take issue with that statement.

[Froward69]

25. yes their are people locked up for H & C

However there are FAR MORE locked up for small amounts of Pot... in fact SO MANY MORE are locked for it that the Private prison industry BANKS on the feds taking the easy route.

additionally when it comes to the proliferation of dispensaries here in CO... some municipalities have banned them altogether (regardless of the legalization vote totals there)... DENVER on the other hand has voted TWICE to legalize it. thus the Dispensaries have flocked to Denver. Knowing this City I do not know of ONE located near a school. I do Know of MANY MANY Liquor stores and Pharmacies located across the street from schools... FAIR regulation is what most of us seek not the same old Bullshit moving the goalposts type of action taken.

it is bullying by the conservative republican feds left over from years of conservative republican domination that appointed or otherwise hired the jack booted thugs to begin with.