UPDATE:

“…or other area or premises that is accessible to the public, or within any private dwelling that is accessible to the public…” (PDF here)
Is your center accessible to the public?  No
Is your center within a private dwelling? No

Colorado Revised Statues: Title 18 Professions and Occupations Article 18 Uniform Controlled Substances Act of 1992
18-18-407. Special offender (II)(B)(2)(a) states the following:
(2) (a) A defendant shall be a special offender if the defendant is convicted of selling, distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, manufacturing, or attempting to manufacture any controlled substance in violation of section 18-18-405 either within or upon the grounds of any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, or high school, vocational school, or public housing development, or within one thousand feet of the perimeter of any such school or public housing development grounds on any street, alley, parkway, sidewalk, public park, playground, or other area or premises that is accessible to the public, or within any private dwelling that is accessible to the public for the purpose of the sale, distribution, use, exchange, manufacture, or attempted manufacture of controlled substances in violation of this article, or in any school bus as defined in section 42-1-102 (88), C.R.S., while such school bus is engaged in the transportation of persons who are students at any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The court is required in addition to imposing the sentence to imprisonment in the department of corrections required by subsection (1) of this section, to fine the defendant without suspension at least twice the minimum fine provided for in section 18-1.3-401 (1)

Hello fellow pioneer,

By now you know about the feds cracking down on centers within 1000’ of schools.

ACT4CO is getting into this fight on behalf of our patients and our members. Whether or not you are directly affected, this impacts are whole industry. Just because you have not received a letter does not mean you are home free.

The federal district attorney’s office has said that this is only the first wave, so don’t look at it as competition being eliminated….you may be next. The reason I say this is that in addtion to schools, in California, the feds have identified parks and public pools as other zones with 1,000’ restrictions. Here is a direct quote from section 860 of the U.S. code:

“distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, or manufacturing a controlled substance in or on, or within one thousand feet of, the real property comprising a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or a public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, or housing facility owned by a public housing authority, or within 100 feet of a public or private youth center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility.”

So, as you might imagine, the feds are likely to try and chew us up in small bites. 23 centers doesn’t sound like a lot to the general public, and if they do this over and over again, they will reduce our numbers over time to the point where they can go after everyone at once. They can’t do it very well at the moment because of our large numbers.

This is a beachead. If we don’t put up a fight for “the targeted 23” here, then they will push forward with another round, and another until they whittle us down to nothing. I am reminded of the famous quote from Martin Niemoller about the Nazis:

First they came for the communists, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and
I didn’t speak out because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and
there was no one left to speak out for me.

ACT4CO is participating with other local, state and national industry organizations such as CBA, Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, MMBA, Vicente Consulting, MMIG, NCIA,DPA, MPP, SSDP, and various MMJ lawyers to respond to this threat to our patients and businesses. It is our contention that this unilateral move on the part of John Walsh is not in conformance with the policy Attorney General Holder stated in last month’s congressional testimony. We will be working on three fronts, legal, political, and public relations. You will see a joint press release coming out soon.

We urge you to come to the MMBA meeting on 1/19 at Casselmans to learn more about this threat and potential responses in the legal, political and public relations arenas.

If you or a center you know has received a letter, please have them contact Josh Kappel at josh@vicenteconsulting.com . They (Vicente Consulting) is taking the lead on pulling people together to fight this. They need to see as many of the letters as possible so they can figure out what (if any) differences there may be between the letters and to see what the commonalities are. This is needed to try to divine the direction of the federal district attorney and develop a response.

Nicholas King, President