What's a politician for?

The medicinal marijuana reaction-hysteria in Colorado right now is poignant. Quick history: With the new attorney general, the risk of opening a dispensary dropped. Dispensaries proliferated. Even during a recession, these dispensary owners started to make decent incomes. Government started earning sales tax revenue from them. That's should be good right? Politicians should be happy? After all, the public sector is in the hole too in this recession...

No. They are now wanting to shut down 80% of these dispensaries.

Politicians are bringing idiotic anti-weed moral arguments. They want more regulation and control. People are wagging fingers at dispensaries. Why?

Politicians are getting in bed with a handful (the other 20%) of well-capitalized dispensaries. So, it will end up being a big-business-big-government regulation which will screw over the little guys, decrease choice and competition, increase prices and drive more sales into the black market. This is picking and choosing winners!

Why regulate in this case? Why do people care so much about what other people put in their bodies? Why constrain commerce during a recession? Because of a screaming moral minority?

And my libertarian side (and economist brain) was so excited to see REAL competition and freedom in a nascent industry.





DETAILS:

HB1284 Passes

{Denver} -- The Colorado state Senate Local Government Committee took hoursof testimony yesterday on HB1284. One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. ChrisRomer (D-Denver), was quoted in several articles yesterday saying that thebill is designed to shut down 80% of caregiving businesses in Colorado. TheCommittee hearing started at 2pm and finally adjourned at 11:30pm. TheCommittee voted in favor of HB1284 and some of its last minute amendmentsby a vote of 6 to 0, with Senator Cadman absent.Laura Kriho of the Cannabis Therapy Institute says, "This is a sad day forpatients. Not only have they been sold out by their lawmakers, but theyhave been sold out by well-funded dispensaries, and they have been sold outby so-called patient rights groups. This bill will destroy patients' accessto their medicine, drive prices up, and force patients back into the blackmarket. The will of the voters has been ignored once again by lawmakers,and sick and dying Colorado citizens will suffer.""This is taking patient rights back over 100 years," says Timothy Tipton, apatient advocate with the Rocky Mountain Caregivers Cooperative "Things aregoing in the wrong direction. Patients in the 1800s had better access tocannabis medicine than they will under this new law."In a departure from hearings in other committees, the Local GovernmentCommittee Chair, Sen. Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass), allowed disabled patientsto testify first. This was followed by several hours of testimony from lawenforcement, including the District Attorney for Adams and BroomfieldCounties, the District Attorney for El Paso and Teller Counties, theDistrict Attorney for Jefferson and Gilpin Counties, the County Sheriffs ofColorado, the Colorado Chiefs of Police Association, the North Metro DrugTask force, and more. Most of the law enforcement testified against thebill, saying that they didn't believe the "dispensary model" was allowedunder Colorado's medical marijuana constitutional amendment.Several representatives of Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation, alobbying group hired by a handful of well-funded dispensaries who have been"working with" Senator Romer on gaining concessions friendly to bigbusiness. CMMR testified in favor of HB1284, but was against a dozen or solast-minute amendments to the bill that Senator Romer surprised them withthat morning. Also testifying on the CMMR team was Brian Vicente fromSensible Colorado, an organization which claims to be in support of patientrights. Sensible asked for several amendments, but overall was satisfiedwith the bill that would eliminate 80% of patient's caregivers, forceprices up, and force patients to use only one dispensary for theirmedicine.Laura Kriho, the director of the Cannabis Therapy Institute, urged theCommittee to kill HB1284 and urged lawmakers to form a statewide commissionto study programs that have been working locally and recommend a bill thathad a broad base of support. Mark Simon, an activist with the disabledcommunity, testified that neither Sen. Romer nor anyone else had reachedout to the disabled community to get their input on the bill.Others who gave testimony against HB1284 were attorneys Robert J. Corry,Jr. and Lauren Davis; Laurel Alterman, owner of Altermeds dispensary inLouisville; Miguel Lopez of Mile High NORML; Robert Chase of ColoradoCoalition of Patients and Caregivers; and the Colorado Springs MedicalMarijuana Council. The mountain contingent was well-represented withKathleen Chippi, owner of One Brown Mouse dispensary in Nederland; JessicaLaRoux of Twirling Hippy Confections and Mark Rose of Grateful Medsdispensary in Nederland all testifying eloquently against the bill.The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee and then will bevoted on by the full Senate. CTI is urging patient rights supporters tocontact their state senators and urge them to vote No on HB1284.http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/advocacy/contact.colorado.state.legislature.html