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Colorado Sheriff: Ambiguous Pot Laws Wasting Time

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Oct 26, 2009 8:51 pm US/Mountain

Colorado Sheriff: Ambiguous Pot Laws Wasting Time

Reporting
Stan Bush
DENVER (CBS4) ― A marijuana investigation turned out to be just a big waste of time for a Colorado sheriff's department but the sheriff says he's working with the best information he's allowed to use.

Summit County Sheriff John Minor says the problem is a lack of clear state rules on medical marijuana. The bust that went wrong used up several days of police work, but he says it was the best they could do with the information they had available. It turned out the growing operation was legal.

"We follow the law, but when the law is so ambiguous, it's difficult," Minor said. "Six or seven out of the last 10 in the last 6 months have all been legitimate operations."

It's been a perfect storm for law enforcement. Growers don't have to register with the state, so officers don't know what they are investigating until after they obtain a search warrant.

"I think we need some regulation," Minor said. "All we're asking for is some guidance to find out what the rules are."

Local growers declined CBS4's request for comment.

The lack of rules has made growing marijuana very profitable in Colorado. With no cap on the number of patients they can have, some growers can earn more than $1 million a year.

The state Senate says they are about to start drafting a new bill that will address medical marijuana regulations across the state. But some officials in Summit County don't think the bill will amount to anything because election season will start ramping up by the next legislative session and medical marijuana might become too hot of a topic for politicians.

The state health department says more than 11,000 Coloradoans have medical marijuana cards and that number is growing quickly. An average of 600 people, most of them young men, applies every day.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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