Dueling Opinions

Concerns over legalizing cannabis have been part of American political discourse since long before the launch of the war on drugs. The tone of the debate has reached a fever pitch since 2008, when Attorney General Holder vowed to end DEA raids on medical marijuana (MMJ) dispensaries, resulting in a boom in the legal weed economy.

Here in Colorado, the Department of Public Health and Environment is overwhelmed by requests for MMJ cards, receiving more than one thousand requests a day. MMJ dispensaries, licensed to grow and sell cannabis to qualifying patients, have opened up shops en masse and begun to thrive. Initiatives like the one that recently passed in Fruita, CO, will collect city taxes from dispensaries and finance and facilitate the regulation of those businesses.

All of this is progress, to be sure, but the MMJ industry is in danger of imploding on itself. The explosion of the Colorado pot economy, for example, has already met with resistance, from residents angry about weed shops in their neighborhoods to Colo. Attorney General John Suthers, whose efforts have successfully mandated school zone and operating hours regulations, among others.

I support MMJ, and I believe patients who are seriously afflicted with cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and arthritis when they describe the relief medicinal cannabis provides. However, I concede that a majority of dispensary patrons are manipulating legal ambiguity to get high; a fact that undermines the legitimacy of the medical marijuana cause.

The whole question of MMJ reminds me of a fallacious argument perennially deployed by anti-drug crusaders. You've heard it, perhaps from a D.A.R.E. cop or your own mother: "marijuana is a gateway drug. When you smoke a joint, you go through the marijuana gateway, out onto cocaine street and straight That's the essential thrust of the contention. Many proponents of MMJ favor widespread legalization and regard the legal limbo MMJ creates as an intermediary step toward legalization.

Activists in California are pushing for statewide legalization in the coming election, which should be certainly be applauded by freedom fans. Legalization on a state-by-state basis, however, would create almost as much regulatory gridlock as MMJ.

Let's say California voters decide to legalize ganja for everyone above 18. Weed tourism would boom, alienating local residents in a phenomenon I'll call "the Amsterdam effect," not to mention creating a nightmare for state-border enforcement. As long as sticky icky icky remains federally illegal, any pro-green legislation has a mighty foe to face.