"Colo. tests tools to tame medical marijuana trade; Official hopes fees, monitoring curb rapid proliferation" by Michael W. Savage, Washington Post | August 5, 2010
DENVER — When Matt Cook was coaxed out of early retirement to become Colorado’s chief revenue enforcer three years ago, he assumed his time would be spent overseeing the casinos, liquor stores, and car dealerships he had been keeping an eye on for much of his career.
If he had hoped for a quiet few years before heading for the golf course, his timing could not have been worse.
Cook, senior director of enforcement at Colorado’s Department of Revenue, returned just as a new kind of business rolled into town promoting a controversial product. Medical marijuana was legalized a decade ago in the state, but retail-style dispensaries began springing up only in 2007.
Yeah, anything that might actually help you stay alive and ease the pain this government opposes.
The trickle of new outlets has turned into a flood. Officials think more than 1,100 dispensaries are operating statewide. As the numbers grew, dispensaries offered ever-more cannabis strains, marijuana-infused products, and delivery services.
When alarmed lawmakers decided they wanted to curb the burgeoning industry, all eyes turned to Cook....
Yeah, SO MUCH for JOBS and all that malarkey when it comes to marijuana.
Relatively late in his career, Cook has become a pioneer in the medical marijuana industry, drawing up a stringent regulation scheme that aims to turn the industry into a legitimate — and respectable — enterprise.
Of course, that is not true for all the other elements of business.
We are told less regulation and free enterprise and all that crap.
If GOVERNMENT is going to CONFER LEGITIMACY on something then WATCH YOUR WALLET!
“We plan to track the entire commodity from seed to sale,’’ said Cook, 53. “We will use a Web-based, 24-seven video surveillance system, and we will see virtually everything from the time a seed goes into the ground to the time the plants are harvested, cultivated, processed, packaged, stored.’’
This is what YOUR TAX DOLLARS are going to be WASTED ON, 'eh, Colorado?
NO CRIMES TO SOLVE, 'eh?
No RAPES, ROBBERIES, and MURDERS in your state, 'eh?
But the FASCISTA have to have a CAMERA OVER YOUR DAMN SHOULDER every second of every day!
And WHICH COMPANIES are going to get the $ecurity contract$!?
The regime could be copied by the 13 other states that already have legalized medical marijuana and the 14 additional states that could soon allow its use. Cook’s counterparts in other states have been seeking advice....
The new regulations have stopped the boom and are widely expected to cut the number of outlets significantly.
Which means LESS JOBS, but who cares?
After getting high who feels like working?
No new dispensaries can be opened until next summer. Existing owners wanting to remain in business had to apply for a license by the beginning of this week.
And that is going to co$t?
Anyone wanting a license had to fill out a 22-page form detailing immediate family and personal financial history. People with drug-related felonies were disqualified.
In the first year, even the smallest dispensaries must hand over at least $7,500 for a license, while bigger operations will have to find as much as $18,000 to stay in business.
Ummm, we are TALKING ABOUT SICK PEOPLE here!
WTF is WRONG with this COMPASSIONATE -- yet war-criminal -- GOVERNMENT?
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Related: Why Pot is No Longer a Problem
(cough, cough, cough)Also see: Rocky Mountain High
Now I'm really buzzing.
Update:
"Obama’s choice wins in Colo. vote; McMahon a victor in Conn. GOP race" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | August 11, 2010
WASHINGTON — In one of a handful of intensely watched primaries around the country, US Senator Michael Bennet last night fended off a feisty Democratic primary challenger in Colorado, bucking a wave of anti-incumbent fervor and demonstrating that President Obama still carries electoral clout....
Yeah, with one win.
Not very much clout there, agenda-pusher.
Bennet will face Ken Buck, a county prosecutor and favorite of the Tea Party movement who narrowly upset establishment candidate Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor, with about 51 percent of the vote. Buck’s victory, political observers say, gives Democrats a better chance at retaining the pivotal seat because they’ll be running against a more conservative candidate.
Who is NOT a member of the INCUMBENT PARTY!
“That really jeopardizes a seat the Republicans otherwise would have had a real shot at,’’ Robert D. Loevy, a political science professor at Colorado College, said last night. “The race appears to me to be a contest between a more middle-of-the-road Democrat and more right wing Republican, and that tends to favor the Democrats in Colorado.’’
Related: Tea Party Will Lose For Winning
That's Boston Globe logic for you!
You know, the same people who predicted Martha Coakley would win by double-digits.
The primaries are the latest chapter in an intense fight for control of Congress and state capitols across the country....
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