Smoking Hot Over Proposed New Law

You've got to ask yourself why it would be good for the people of Colorado who are users of medical marijuana to have a law in place which is designed to put most small dispensaries out of business, setting up a situation where only the biggest dispensaries will survive, which will most certainly drive up the price of the product.

This week the Colorado House passed HB 1284, which will be voted on by the Colorado Senate within 2 weeks, which would do exactly that. This law is a product of the big operators who have deep pockets who hired lobbyists to help create this HB 1284.

Many small entrepreneurs have sprung up to supply the demand for medical marijuana after the state passed a law making medical marijuana legal.

All those who favor a free market support the efforts of entrepreneurs who are creating new businesses.

Unfortunately, this bill is simply another example of the power of lobbyists to create legislation for clients. It is no different from the big bankers and brokerages getting together to change the laws so that they could all merge. We have seen how well that turned out for all of us. We have also seen what happens when the lobbyists for the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies influence health care legislation.

Those of us who care about medical marijuana should voice our opinions to our representative in the Colorado Senate.

There is nothing good about a bill that is created with the intention of putting all of the small businesses out of business so that the playing field is only open to the largest operators.

Would we allow this to happen in any other category of business? Would we be happy if the auto repair chains got together and passed laws that forced the smaller and independent auto repair shops to close?

Yes, franchising and big business are coming to the medical marijuana industry if this bill is allowed to become the law in Colorado. Real capitalism would allow whoever wants to try their hand in this business to enter it, and let the market decide who succeeds and who fails. Real capitalism does not pass laws to put their competition out of business.

All this law proves is that the people who have the deepest pockets to open the biggest stores and hire the most lawyers are going to try to control the business, and ultimately, this will mean higher prices to consumers than if there were more competition.

The forces behind this power play are no different than the forces who changed the laws so that we could end up having just a few corporations control most of the banking industry, or just a few media conglomerates to control most of our news organizations. It was not the customer who decided that it would be wonderful if a few of corporations owned thousands of radio stations. The same group of lawyers and media spin masters who made these things a reality are doing their best to see to it that consumers of medical marijuana will only have a few big stores where they can buy their product.

Letting this happen is not in the consumers best interest. If you are one of the people who voted in favor of medical marijuana in the state of Colorado, contact your state senator and let them know that you oppose this bill.

If you are a person who is believes that small businesses and competition are good for our economy, contact your state senator and let them know that you oppose this bill.