SO FAR, SO GOOD

Opinion by Gerald Trumbule

The first days of retail pot sales have come and gone and all is well. I know that there was a lot of righteous complaining about all of the hoops that retailers had to jump through, but I'm sure that they will be glad to reap the benefits of their hard work, and they seem to have done a great job.
Pot prohibition has always been about repression, and we seem to have reduced this particular repression a tad. There are still many issues to be resolved. Here's my list:

1. Allowing tourists to buy pot and then forbidding them to smoke it anywhere just seems stupid. Tourists don't have "private property" where they can go and smoke it legally, so what the hell are they supposed to do? Obviously smoking places will have to be allowed, like bars for alcohol. Charlie Brown likes to call them "dens". Whatever, its got to happen.

2. I've heard rumors about a 17% limit to potency of pot for sale. Is this true and where did it come from? Mandated? Self-imposed? Comments please.

3. By my calculations, 6 plants for medical (A20), if you have your red card, and 6 plants for recreational (A64) adds up to 12 plants per person, constitutionally guaranteed, thank you very much. Denver City Council's attempt to limit this to 12 per household is blatantly unconstitutional.

4. Growing pot indoors is a crime against nature. Anyone who has grown marijuana outdoors in the Colorado sun knows this. ENCLOSED LOCKED SPACE, specified in A64 does not mean indoors only. The dictionary definition of enclosed is surround or close off on all sides. "The entire estate was enclosed with walls". As much as David Broadwell wants it to be illegal to home grow outdoors, it is not, and Councilwoman Robin Kneich called him out on this and forced him to admit that "we need additional ordinances to state that it IS illegal." A backhanded admission that it is currently legal.

5. And then there is this: The entire section of A64 (Sec 16 (3))

which are:

I think this section has a lot of untapped power. Maybe it's a private neighborhood garden, with the neighbors getting together regularly to smoke, grow, and party down, or whatever. What can this turn into? Co-ops? No need to form a business of any kind, just folks doing their thing.

Hurray for us. Hurray for the leaders and the followers as well. We're off to a good start.