{"id":7853,"date":"2017-11-10T22:03:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T22:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2852972&amp;preview_id=2852972"},"modified":"2017-11-10T22:03:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T22:03:06","slug":"op-ed-colorado-legalization-anniversary-nothing-to-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/op-ed-colorado-legalization-anniversary-nothing-to-celebrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Colorado legalization anniversary nothing to celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/op-ed-colorado-legalization-anniversary-nothing-to-celebrate\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Nov 10, 2017, 1:48 pm \u2022 Updated: Nov 10, 2017, 1:48 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <strong>Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This week marks the fifth anniversary of Colorado\u2019s decision to sanction the world\u2019s first anything-goes commercial pot trade.<\/p>\n<p>Five years later, we remain an embarrassing cautionary tale.<\/p>\n<p>Visitors to Colorado remark about a new agricultural smell, the wafting odor of pot as they drive near <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/01\/04\/unbalanced-denver-marijuana-landscape-regulation-concerns\/45849\/\">warehouse grow operations<\/a> along Denver freeways. Residential neighborhoods throughout Colorado Springs reek of marijuana, as producers fill rental homes with plants.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/11\/07\/tom-tancredo-colorado-marijuana-legalization-2012-vote-anniversary\/91893\/\">GOP backer of 2012 Colorado marijuana legalization vote: \u201cExperiment in liberty is working\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/02\/29\/opinion-colorados-marijuana-legalization-story-paradise-lost\/49290\/\">homelessness growth rate<\/a> that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot.<\/p>\n<p>Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/08\/25\/colorado-traffic-fatalities-marijuana-link\/86767\/\">doubling in the number of drivers<\/a> involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based on research by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/10\/16\/prohibitionist-post-125-years-covering-colorados-love-hate-affair-alcohol-cannabis\/90101\/\">pro-legalization Denver Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Five years of commercial pot have been five years of more marijuana in schools than teachers and administrators ever feared.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read the rest of this story at <a href=\"http:\/\/gazette.com\/editorial-the-sad-anniversary-of-big-commercial-pot\/article\/1614900\">Gazette.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gazette.com\/editorial-the-sad-anniversary-of-big-commercial-pot\/article\/1614900\" rel=\"nofollow\">This story was first published on Gazette.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Colorado Springs Gazette editorial: It&#8217;s the fifth anniversary of marijuana legalization, and the state remains an embarrassing cautionary tale. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[77,5667,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[2655,5673,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}