Colorado's weed laws are changing so quickly and frequently that poor little po-po's can't wrap their heads around who to arrest and when.
Two and half years ago, Colorado legalized marijuana.
Some people made some rules to ensure public safety and proper regulation, and that was that.
But then those rule-making people got a bit trigger happy. They realized legal pot could be safer and better regulated, so they made some more rules … and some more rules … until eventually, they had made legal weed less legal, amending Colorado's original marijuana legislation a whopping 81 times. For a bit of contrast, the U.S. Constitution has only been amended 17 times since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.
These rules are hard enough to keep up with as an average citizen who isn't necessarily privy to or aware of each and every marijuana amendment that gets approved. But when you're a cop in Colorado and it's your job to stay on top of the law, keeping up with the monumental amount of changes to Colorado's legal weed legislation that lawmakers can be a giant, steaming mindfuck. With all these ever-changing and often contradictory laws, poor Colorado po-po just can't figure out who to arrest and when.
That's why Colorado police have issued a letter to lawmakers in this state begging them to chill out the weed law changes.
In the letter, leaders of the Colorado's three main law enforcement groups claim police “cannot keep up with the quantity and speed of constantly-changing marijuana law.”
"Regulation seems to change on a daily basis and this process must be slowed down,” the groups said.
Their solution? A two-year moratorium on “any changes to current law with regard to marijuana legalization, unless a strong public safety nexus is established."
After all, law enforcement must be allotted a little time to regroup and learn the laws they're enforcing. Otherwise, people get charged and arrested for things that may or not be currently illegal. Gross.
Know what we think? Even if police are given the pot law moratorium they're asking for, we're pretty sure Colorado legislators will think up another 81 amendments in the ensuing legislation break. Once the moratorium passes, they'll try to pass them all at once, and police will be in the same position they are now; dealing with an impossible amount of transient legislation that's difficult to keep up with.
Ugh, we never thought we'd say this, but … we kinda feel sorry for the police right now. But even sorrier for the people who're likely to become casualties of law enforcement's confusion about current weed laws.
Our solution? Make better, more thought-out, less rash laws if you're going to make them at all. We get that there are a lot of competing interests at stake in the weed law games, but frantically trying to accommodate each and every one of them gets you nowhere.
Just chill, Colorado lawmakers. Smoke some of the weed you made legal, and relax.
In the meantime, police: can you just stick to giving us speeding tickets for going 5 m.p.h. over the speed limit or something? You're so good at that …
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