The Gazette, 24 Sep 2010 – On the ballot this fall is a county measure placed by the county commissioners called 1A. It is a measure to keep medical marijuana dispensaries from being allowed in unincorporated El Paso County. There is a similar measure on the ballot in Fountain called 2G. Pot shops have sprung up all over the place. Whenever you see a green cross on a sign and/or a building in El Paso County that is code for pot. This must stop. If you look at the Independent newspaper, at least 10 pages are ads for pot shops. If you read the ads closely, you will see some of them have doctors on site to write prescriptions. How did we get here? First, we must look at Amendment 20 that was passed by the voters of the State in 2000. It allowed people with so-called severe pain and cancer patients to use pot for medicinal purposes. This was always a ruse. The pro marijuana crowd knew they couldn’t legalize pot on a straight up or down vote. So they used the sick and the dying as political cover to open a beachhead in their quest to legalize pot.