1/28/2012
For the first time, the federal government is cracking down on Colorado’s medical marijuana dispensaries, ordering twenty-three dispensaries situated close to schools to close shop within forty-five days or face seizure of their property and criminal prosecution.
U.S. Attorney John Walsh have sent warning letters Thursday to these unidentified marijuana dispensaries and stated in a new release that many are nearer than one thousand feet to K-12 campuses.
In his press release, Walsh said, “When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools.”
He also said that federal authorities are making great efforts in identifying all these marijuana stores that are within one thousand feet of a school. Thursday’s warnings, according to Walsh, “are merely a first step to address this issue.”
“The office will continue to insist marijuana stores near schools shut down,” said U.S. Attorney Walsh.
He then cited data that shows a lot of Colorado school districts “have seen a dramatic increase in student abuse of marijuana, with resulting student suspensions and discipline” since medical pot stores opened.
An ongoing investigation by some news outfits in Colorado found a forty-four percent increase in drug-related incidents at K-12 schools across the state in a span of four years. Such increase happened during the 2008-09 school period through 2010-11.
