POT PRUDENCE For those of you reading this while standing in that long line outside the door of one of the new retail marijuana stores in the Denver metro area, we want to remind you that this is not a free-for-all … yet.
While we’ve had the right to possess up to an ounce of pot and six plants for the past year thanks to Amendment 64, Jan. 1 marked the first day the average Joe could stroll into a shop and buy some Acapulco Gold or a Cheeba Chew. Susan France Now, here’s the rub. Where are you going to smoke it or eat it? It’s not legal to do it in public, and obviously you can’t light up indoors where smoking is prohibited. This week, the Denver International Airport joined the growing list of facilities that is not allowing weed on premises. In Denver, you can’t display or transfer it on city-owned property, apparently.
So that leaves, well, your own private property. Let’s just say there will be lots of smoke rising from backyards starting this week.
And what about all of those tourists who are going to descend on our fair state to buy a doobie, perhaps on their way to the slopes?
Progressive hotel owners might be smart to begin adding smoking rooms and marketing their property as marijuana-friendly.
Another caveat: Employers still have the right to prohibit pot use and fire you for violating that policy. Luckily, the market for drinks, shampoos and other products that help you detox quickly is likely to see a boom.
Baby steps. At least we’re making progress toward moving beyond the “reefer madness” mentality that has gripped this country for decades for no good reason.
Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
DRONE SEASON It may come as a surprise, but yes, we, too, were shocked and dismayed at the news that the University of Colorado’s bid to host a test site for federal drones was turned down.
After all, we had taken quite an interest in drones. Back in July, we took the extreme measure of driving all the way to Deer Trail, a tiny burg east of DIA on I-70, to investigate why a local resident wanted to make it legal to shoot them down.
What we discovered was illuminating. And convincing. You can read all about it at http://bit.ly/19CHPmK.
What we found was that there were many opportunities for a community like Deer Trail to take advantage of drone-shooting, and we secretly hoped that Boulder’s bid for a testing site would afford us the chance of taking aim at low-flying, constitutionally questionable surveillance devices.
But alas, Colorado was passed over. We can only hope that the Federal Aviation Administration — which, according to media reports inexplicably chose the likes of the University of Alaska; the state of Nevada; some New York airport; the North Dakota Department of Commerce, if there is such a thing; a Texas A&M outpost in Corpus Christi; and Virginia Tech as prime drone-testing locales — will fly a few unmanned aircraft over Boulder County.
It may come across as sour grapes, but as proud, gun-bearing defenders of the Second Amendment, we will take great pride in setting our sights on any small plane with no pilot that dares to enter our air space.
Somebody has to take a stand on Obama’s inexplicable infringement of our civil liberties.
This is our chance. It’s time to load live rounds, people. Get in the drone zone.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
