Police from Colorado Helping to Ban Medical Marijuana in California

Colorado took a step that at one time seemed incredible and legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. Since that law went into effect, some of those who once opposed legalization have seen that the sky is not falling, and nothing catastrophic is happing after legalization, as they once predicted. However, others who originally opposed medical marijuana have not been swayed from this opposition and are now trying to get other states to ban the use of marijuana.

According to a recent news report from Westwood, law enforcement groups in Colorado continue to work to prohibit all use of marijuana and continue say how bad things have become, despite credible evidence to the contrary. There has even been a report from the prestigious Brookings Institution on how well things have worked out for the state
As it turns out, when a new city in California is considering allowing dispensaries in their jurisdiction, city officials will often take a trip to Colorado to see how legalization has worked there and what they can expect. It is interesting that they do not rely upon reports from Los Angeles, where medical cannabis is legal, but traveling is nothing new for elected officials.

Recently, officials from the City of Indio in California went to the Rocky Mountain state and met with a variety of people familiar with the marijuana industry in the state. It seems that most of the people they met with were those opposed to legalization of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, and representatives from one organization made a strong case for why marijuana should never be legalized.

The entire presentation was made from the perspective of those against legalization and generally featured only the negatives and had a lot of anecdotal tales from law enforcement about how dangerous medical marijuana can be to the community, even though there is not evidence to support this position and a great to of evidence to support the opposing position. Again, these medical marijuana opponents like to shout that the sky is falling and hope someone will take their warning to heart.

This particular presentation tried to link marijuana use and homelessness and took California lawmakers to an area with high numbers of homeless individuals and referred to the area as “stoner hill.” They used this to attempt to show that marijuana causes the quality of life to deteriorate and somehow implied that if it were not for legalized marijuana, these people would not be homeless.

They also tried to link marijuana to violent crime by stating that there was a local 420 festival in which there was a shooting. It should be noted that this one shooting happened to take place at a marijuana festival, but there was no indication that marijuana caused a shooting or how this is different that any of the many other shootings that occur each year.

Ultimately, the members returned to California still interested the process, but they drafted a set regulations that addressed many of the concerns raised by law enforcement personnel as if they were all likely to occur.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:
Colorado Cops Help Convince California City to Ban Medical Marijuana, December 7, 2015, Westwood, By Michael Roberts

More Blog Entries:
Cannabis Less Dangerous Than Heroin, New DEA Chief Concedes, Aug. 2, 2015, Los Angeles Marijuana Lawyer Blog