DrugSense

The Gazette, 11 Jun 2013 – Paige Figi found two notes left on her front door and took numerous phone calls this week from people wanting information or expressing thanks regarding her decision to use medical marijuana to ease her 6-year-old daughter’s near-constant seizures. "People just are desperate" for help, said Figi, who lives in Black Forest. "And nothing will work."

New York Times, 13 Jun 2013 – AURORA, Colo. – As Colorado moves closer to issuing temporary regulations on the sale of marijuana, now legal in small quantities here, some cities and towns are not waiting for the new rules to take effect. More than a dozen municipalities across the state have decided to enact moratoriums on retail marijuana sales, restricting them for now or at least until after the rules are finalized later this year.

Westword, 13 Jun 2013 – Dear Stoner: Is there actually a strain known as Polio Pot? A friend was telling me that she’d smoked some and it paralyzed her legs for a while – hence the name. But I’m not sure I buy it – and if it does exist, I don’t think I’ll be buying any Polio Pot. Apprehensive in Arvada

The Gazette, 09 Jun 2013 – Civic leaders worried about retail marijuana sales in Colorado say it’s a matter of perception. They don’t expect pot to pour onto local military bases when retail sales of recreational reefer start in 2014. They do expect states competing for increasingly scarce defense spending to blow smoke about Colorado’s permissive policy in a bid to pull troops and programs from the state.

The Gazette, 09 Jun 2013 – Colorado Springs is at another crossroads. The city has transitioned to a strong mayor form of government. The local housing market is beginning to recover from the recession. So far we appear to be surviving sequestration. But in the coming weeks the city must decide whether to allow retail marijuana sales. Amendment 64, approved by Colorado voters in 2012, has moved into the implementation phase. Regulation of the many details concerning legalized marijuana is a daunting task. One of those details is an enormous one – legal retail sale of pot within the city limits. The amendment permits "the licensing of cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing facilities, and retail stores;" It also allows each locality to determine whether it will allow retail stores and then create regulations to govern those stores. Or, they can simply opt out or establish a moratorium, as Pueblo and many other municipalities have done. El Paso County has already banned retail sales and so has Woodland Park, a mountain community known for its scenic beauty. Colorado Springs should do the same.

The Gazette, 09 Jun 2013 – Last year the citizens of Colorado voted to allow the possession of recreational marijuana. They also voted to give local authorities the power to decide whether the sale and distribution of the drug would be allowed within their jurisdiction. Locally, there is a lot riding on this decision by our City Council and there is no requirement that they rush into it. The smartest short-term solution might be to just wait to decide whether to legalize local production and sales until we see what happens in Colorado jurisdictions that have authorized the sale of recreational marijuana.

The Gazette, 09 Jun 2013 – Six-year-old Charlotte Figi, a picture of precious in her "Gatsby"-style bob and blue toenails, stands patiently as her mother reaches up her dress to change her out of her soiled Pull-Ups. – Charlotte never says a word. She hasn’t in the past hour, and won’t for at least another 30 minutes, when she finally whispers the name of a visitor who is about to leave. In the Figi household, these are signs of progress: Charlotte saying something. Charlotte eating and drinking. Charlotte standing and walking.

The Gazette, 09 Jun 2013 – I support allowing retail sales of marijuana in Colorado Springs for many of the same reasons I supported allowing medical marijuana dispensaries when I was on City Council. It’s always been an issue of freedom for me, and of states’ rights. Prohibition obviously has been a disaster. And we so rarely see an expansion of liberty in the so-called Land of the Free that I wanted to help make this one work. I didn’t believe it served the city’s interests to disrespect voters, or to trample on newfound freedoms simply because the new rules confused the work of law enforcers or complicated the conversations we have with our kids about the dangers of drugs. I feel the same way today, as I’m guessing most locals do.

New Haven Register, 10 Jun 2013 – DENVER – Colorado was one of the pioneers of medical marijuana. Soon, it will hold another distinction. Voters in November overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment that will allow for the sale of cannabis to anyone over age 21. In doing so, they made Colorado one of only two states to opt for full commercialization of the drug, along with Washington state.