Boulder County legislators seem to agree that there is a need for legislation to bring more order to the medical marijuana industry in Colorado.
But they also told Boulder Weekly that they have not examined the issue closely, so they stop short of offering an opinion on exactly how that should be done.
“I think it’s here to stay, and we have to deal with it,” Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, says. “To the extent that we can make it safer and more honest, we should do what we can.”
Pommer says the industry needs more structure, explaining that there is a process for legally pursuing someone who sells a faulty prescription drug, but not someone who sells bad marijuana.
He adds that he would support taxing medical marijuana, “because we could use the money.”
Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, says the e-mail he receives on the issue is pretty divided between those who want significant regulation and those who do not.
“We need to issue rules and regulations to clarify things,” he says. “It’s not meeting the purpose of what we thought it was going to be.”
Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Longmont, says that while she agrees that existing law must be clarified with reforms, she has friends who have a bona fide need for medical marijuana. So she cautions that in the process of changing the law, legislators should not hinder “the ability of dispensaries to dispense marijuana appropriately.”
She adds, “I want to make sure we do it in a fair and just way.”
Hullinghorst says she believes the nation is probably headed toward the decriminalization of marijuana, but it may take a long time. “New generations will have a better perspective on this than maybe mine does,” she told Boulder Weekly.
Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, says he favors the legalization of marijuana. “Why not just recognize that it’s not that harmful to society for people to legally partake in marijuana?” He suggests regulating it for safety, and “in a way that’s not helping Mexican warlords or anybody else… Until you legalize the production, you’re not getting to some of the problems that stem from it.
“To the extent we have a problem — and I use that term in a guarded way — is how easy it is to get a medical marijuana card.”
