Wow, be thankful that Rep. Levy seems to be on the right track with this thing... the rest of us in other districts can only hope our reps are as receptive. I'm pleased to see that she's trying to understand why things are important to patients and how the system should work -- doesn't seem like the drafters of the bill gave a damn though. I mean really, the 1,000 feet possession/use thing is just mind-bogglingly stupid... thankfully it's clear that Rep. Levy sees that, and it seems like the consensus.

I'll be writing something to Diana DeGette as well -- if anyone wants to look up who their rep is and send them a quick letter, here's the zip code lookup: The U.S. House of Representatives - Determining Your Representative

Remember that it's mid-term election time soon and this is a super hot issue... if they hear from enough people (in a respectful manner of course), they'll get the message that this is vitally important to so many of their constituents. I always kind of shrug and avert my eyes when I see people just massing on the Capitol steps and things like that... yeah, that's a good way to get some news cameras there, but they just sensationalize everything anyway and the pro-MMJ protesters end up looking bad 90% of the time. The more effective approach is direct advocacy with your representatives and city officials, and encouraging such activity from others... direct political participation from an interest group (PEOPLE, not lobbyists) is rare, and if the MMJ movement can show a fairly unified front on this, I think we'll ultimately be okay with the vast majority of the final legislation. There will still be tweaking and (I'm sure) some lawsuits, but I think they all pretty much know how much people have invested in this and how much it would crush people in the industry and the economy it's created for the state if these things go through as-is.

EDIT: Another issue that I definitely think needs to be addressed is the vegetative plant limit. I know that I'm personally petrified of bringing in infected clones (I ended up with 2 for my first grow in this room) and ruining harvest after harvest. Growing from seed is the only way to keep things safe by your own volition and 6 plants (or for those of us doing perpetual grows, 3 vegging plants..) is simply not enough to select strong mothers, use clones effectively, or account for the genetic probability of male plants, which cannot produce anything of quality in terms of "final product", which is the supposed concern. I'm fine with the 3 plant flowering limit I suppose, but that does still limit techniques... people with little vertical space are stuck with small harvests for the most part.

People who have never grown can't possibly know this stuff unless they're told, so including this sort of information could be VERY helpful to your rep when they're trying to elucidate why certain things are important.
MMJinColorado Reviewed by MMJinColorado on . HB-1284 Posed to ReVive the Black Market in Colorado Who do our State Legislators think they are helping with HB-1284 the patients, the Mom & Pop shops that have invested their own savings, (Banks don't do loans for dispensaries and grows) Your constitutional rights, I think not! This is all a smoke screen to make way for big money interests to take over this new industry in Colorado. And folks that big money includes the Black Market, Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol, Big out of state money from chain dispensaries. And who gets screwed in all this, you Rating: 5