County developing marijuana ordinance

Marijuana

Posted: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 10:42 am | Updated: 10:47 am, Wed Jan 2, 2013.

County developing marijuana ordinance Pat Hill phill@ourcoloradonews.com Colorado Community Media | 4 comments

With law-enforcement agencies in Colorado thrust into a quandary with the passage of Amendment 64, some cities have imposed moratoriums while others are drafting ordinances.

At issue is the conflict between the state and the federal government, under which marijuana, a Schedule 1 substance, is illegal.

To date, Sheriff Mike Ensminger and Teller County commissioners Bill Buckhanan, Jim Ignatius and Dave Paul are working on an ordinance addressing the amendment. “The ordinance will give us the authority to enforce the contents and the elements of what Amendment 64 says,” Ensminger said.

Under the amendment, recreational marijuana is legal for persons 21 and over to possess up to one ounce of marijuana.

While state law is effective for persons caught with more than an ounce of marijuana, Ensminger is concerned with people who have less than an ounce, use marijuana in a public place and drive while smoking or ingesting the drug, he said. “We can't enforce any of this unless we have a statute,” Ensminger said. “We need an ordinance that says it's legal to possess an ounce.”

Teller County is one of several counties drafting an ordinance, Ensminger said. “Right now people cannot use marijuana in public, similar to the open-container laws,” he added.

Because of the THC (the stimulant in marijuana) content as well as the increased strength of today's marijuana, Ensminger is concerned about the after-effects of the drug. “I can't get over the fact that marijuana is a Schedule I drug and the FDA is not going to take the drug off the list,” he said. “We don't know eliminate THC from our bodies as we do other drugs. That's what makes marijuana dangerous.”

Nonetheless, Ensminger is pushing for quick action on the part of the state legislators, to give guidance to counties struggling with the conflict between state and the federal government. “We're hoping that the legislators will be quick with their response, unlike they were with medical marijuana,” he said.

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4 comments:

Zen posted at 2:49 pm on Sat, Jan 19, 2013.

Posts: 67
colorado7768 - And why wouldn't they be a good fit? I for one know plenty of marijuana & hemp enthusiasts who are well educated, white collar, community oriented, entrepreneurial, and good citizens. Seems like a great fit for Teller County.
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colorado7768 posted at 3:19 pm on Thu, Jan 10, 2013.

Posts: 2
Can Teller Country pass ordinance to ban marijuana altogether? If not, when is the next opportunity to repeal? I have already read where people are planning to move here because of the legalization marijuana. The demographics of these people are probably not a good fit for Teller County (and in my opinion Colorado). In addition, lax attitude towards this drug and increased ease of availablity will invariably see in increase in young people (i.e., 12 yrs old)(http://www.casacolumbia.org/templates/NewsRoom.aspx?articleid=692&zoneid=51)
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Zen posted at 10:32 pm on Mon, Jan 7, 2013.

Posts: 67
“We don't know eliminate THC from our bodies as we do other drugs. That's what makes marijuana dangerous."
Has Ensminger ever actually studied marijuana? Because the information his department keeps feeding county residents is mostly nonsensical and unscientific misinformation.
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Duncan20903 posted at 10:33 am on Thu, Jan 3, 2013.

Posts: 2
Sheriff Barbrady shouldn't be so sure that the FDA isn't going to re-schedule cannabis. DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young issued a 69 page ruling which states that the LAW requires that re-scheduling and like good little self centered fascists the DEA simply refused to follow the law. That begs the question, Where the heck is “the LAW is the LAW (blah, blah, blah)” crowd when authorities decide to break the law and violate their Oath? Up in the peanut gallery cheering that lawbreaking like the hypocritical partisan hacks that they are is where.
http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/medical/young/young.html
In October the Federal Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a petition to force the DEA to follow the goll durned law like they're supposed to do. The prohibitionists might be able to ignore rulings by their own Administrative Law Judges but they're not going to be able to ignore the Federal Court.
It really is amazing how so called law enforcement officials have no problem ignoring laws they don't approve, like Sheriff Barbrady does above.
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