ONLINE OUR VIEW: Council to consider medical pot options

City officials face a new and growing dilemma: What to do about medical pot?

Colorado Police Chief Richard Myers will address the City Council at 1 p.m. today, to discuss their options for dealing with the emergence and anticipated growth in pot dispensaries in Colorado Springs, now that federal authorities plan to respect state pot laws. Colorado voters legalized medical marijuana 10 years ago, and last week the U.S. Justice Department issued an edict that told federal drug authorities to respect the rights of medical marijuana users and sellers who are abiding by the laws of their respective states.

In his blog, City Councilman Sean Paige mentioned an article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan that explains how some medical pot sellers want state and/or local regulations, as a way to ensure high standards for buyers and a fair competitive playing field for sellers. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has also indicated a need for regulations of medical pot retailers.

In a PowerPoint presentation prepared for the council, Myers asks: “How do you legally regulate activity that is in violation of federal law?”

The chief will present the council with options that include: Do nothing; Regulate land uses; strengthen building codes; require business licenses; and enforce sales tax.

In grappling with this complicated issue, council members should consider it in the context of circumstances facing City Hall and the taxpayers who fund it: City officials plan to lay off cops in the likely event taxpayers defeat the 2C tax increase, which the council proposed in order to maintain city services at current levels. If they get the new tax money, city police will have all the demands they have today without additional personnel. That means police may not respond to some property crimes and other nonemergency, nonlife threatening calls in a timely fashion. If they don’t get the tax, police will have all of today’s demands with even fewer officers to respond.

With or without the tax, one thing is certain: City officials are in no position to strap the police force, or other city officials, with additional unfunded enforcement burdens. Let the police focus their efforts on rapes, murders, other violence, and major property crimes.

In that context, the “do nothing” option has appeal. However, the question “how do you legally regulate activity that is in violation of federal law?” isn’t difficult. If council wishes to regulate local marijuana sales, it should do so without regard for federal law. Nothing in the United States Constitution gives the federal government authority to forbid the sale of a weed grown and sold inside the borders of Colorado. It’s not interstate commerce until someone transports the weed into another state, which would not be our city government’s concern, as we’re nowhere near the state border. Even the far left Obama administration views state medical marijuana law as a matter of states’ rights.

While Myers is wise to offer a “do nothing” option, the council may want to consider a “do nothing” hybrid. Council members should dismiss options of regulating pot sales under the guise of land use and building codes, and they should forget any false notion that medical pot is a crime. It is not. However, they should absolutely consider subjecting pot sellers to standard business licensure fees and taxes. They should treat medical marijuana distributors just as they treat standard pharmacies, or other retailers in Colorado Springs.

Buying and selling medical marijuana in Colorado is not a crime, and even the Justice Department refuses to enforce federal marijuana laws that violate the Constitution. City Council members need to do nothing, other than collect whatever standard taxes and fees apply to all other retailers. They should make Colorado Springs a friendly and accepting environment for buyers and sellers of medical pot, and they should hope these new businesses will generate revenue for the city while boosting the economy with sales to out-of-town customers who bring their capital here to buy a safe, legal, natural drug.