Out of touch on Colorado pot policy

We're happy to see that Barbra Roach, who took over as head of the Denver division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this year, is committed to focusing on the "top echelon" of criminal organizations given the agency's limited resources. "I want to see the cases we work are quality," she told The Denver Post's Felisa Cardona. "I want to continue to strive for the large drug trafficking organizations -- not just domestically, but internationally."
That seems like the right priority, since those groups not only traffic in large quantities of dangerous drugs but are ruthless and violent, too.
Meanwhile, we suppose, any DEA official coming to Colorado will feel obliged to reiterate the federal government's opposition to medical marijuana, as Roach did, but we were nonetheless surprised at the extent of her indictment.
"By federal law, marijuana is illegal," Roach said. "There is no medical proof it has any benefit. People are not taking into account what can happen to those who are growing it. There are homes with mold and water damage in the hundreds of thousands and there are children in there, too."
For that matter, Cardona wrote, "she is choosing a city for her husband and two children to live in where no marijuana dispensaries are allowed."
Yet surely Roach is aware that prescription Marinol contains synthetic THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana. Indeed, the DEA contends Marinol is an appropriate legal substitute for marijuana. So if there is an unsettled scientific question, it's whether marijuana provides relief to some that Marinol does not. Unfortunately, the research appears inconclusive even if personal anecdotes suggest the answer is "yes."
As for choosing a city where marijuana dispensaries are barred, Democratic Congressman Jared Polis said it best in reacting on Facebook to the article. "Why should it matter if there is a dispensary across town?" Polis asked. "I mean, by all means don't get a place next to a dispensary if you dislike them so intensely, but who cares if there is one somewhere else in town? Personally, as a father, I would much rather have a well-regulated dispensary as a neighbor than a seedy liquor store, but neither one would absolutely disqualify an otherwise perfect place to live with good schools and a safe neighborhood."
Meanwhile, he noted, "the fact that an opponent of medical marijuana uses arguments like 'it causes water damage to homes' shows how bankrupt that side is of facts."
And even if an opponent of medical marijuana settles in a city without dispensaries, it doesn't mean she won't be next door to someone with state permission to use medical marijuana or to function as a caregiver assisting such patients.
Like it not, Colorado voters defied federal law a dozen years ago when a majority chose to legalize the use of marijuana to provide pain relief. And the entire state is implicated in the decision, not just dispensary-friendly cities such as Denver and Boulder.
-- The Denver Post 


source