THE STATE
Anti-drugged driving campaign begins
Colorado’s Department of Transportation has launched a statewide “anti-drugged driving” campaign to raise public awareness of the hazards of driving while under the influence of intoxicating substances.
The Colorado campaign is in large part an advertizing blitz, with posters, billboards, signs and radio spots disseminated throughout the state. Some of the messages specifically reference medical cannabis.
Among other safety messages, drivers are urged to check with their pharmacists on whether their prescriptions might cause impairment. Motorists are also advised that driving while impaired is illegal, regardless of whether the impairment was caused by a legally prescribed medication.
The campaign dovetails with a national DUI crackdown that began Aug. 19 and is running through Sept. 6.
In related news, Denver Police are looking for whoever stole a mobile billboard bearing the anti-drugged driving message. The 20-foot-long flatbed trailer and attached sign disappeared from a Jefferson County parking lot Aug. 19.
Fort Collins to vote on cannabis dispensaries
Residents of the northern Colorado city of Fort Collins will soon get the final word on whether they want medical cannabis dispensaries to operate in their midst.
Persuaded by public testimony and a 4,500-signature petition to let democracy decide the matter, the Forth Collins City Council decided in August to put a proposed ordinance banning dispensaries on the Nov. 1 ballot.
Fort Collins has 21 cannabis dispensaries in operation, according to news reports. Loveland, Greeley and Windsor have banned dispensaries.
Most Coloradans want pot legalized, study says
A slim majority of Colorado voters think cannabis should be legal, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey.
Fifty-one percent of the survey’s respondents said they supported legalization, while 32 percent said they opposed it. Twelve percent responded that they weren’t sure.
The survey results also registered a clear difference of opinion depending on the respondents’ political leanings. Democrats surveyed supported legalization by 65 percent, compared to 55 percent of independents and 31 percent of Republicans. Those who said they voted for President Obama favored legalization by 68 percent—the same level of support as from those who identified as liberals.
Two Colorado colleges rank high for “Reefer Madness”
Students and graduates of two major Colorado institutions of higher learning are inhaling deeply the aroma of success after their alma maters captured top honors in The Princeton Review’s “Reefer Madness” list.
The list, part of the Review’s annual ranking of colleges, vaulted humble Colorado College in Colorado Springs to the status of No. 1 marijuana-smoking school in the country. The University of Colorado at Boulder, home of the annual 4/20 Smoke-Out that draws thousands, moved up two spots from last year’s list, to No. 4.
In preparing its reviews, The Princeton Review surveyed 120,000 U.S. college students. The University of Colorado also ranked No. 20 in the Review’s rankings for “great college town,” and No. 20 for “most politically active students.”
Banking blues for the MMJ industry
Colorado Springs State Bank has decided it will no longer do business with dispensaries, DailyCamera.com reports. The bank, the last in Colorado that was publicly doing business with the MMJ industry, has asked its dispensary account holders to close their bank accounts by Sept. 30. “There are unresolved issues with regulations, law enforcement and other agencies that need to get resolved before the industry can progress and become bankable,” John Whitten, senior vice president of Colorado Springs State Bank, told DailyCamera.com. Whitten said banks would probably consider reopening their doors to the medical marijuana industry if federal laws change. One dispensary owner said the MMJ industry will need to seek out banks that will accept their business or revert to a cash-only model.
