Colorado: Lawmakers Want Outdoor Grows Enclosed to Keep Kids From Stealing Weed

Because the youth of Colorado is apparently raiding backyard pot gardens in an effort to get their hands on weed to take to school, lawmakers are considering a bill this session that would require all medical marijuana home grows to be kept in an enclosed and locked space.

A report by CBS Denver indicates that outdoor grow sites have become a haven of highness for young stoners in training because it has been relatively easy for them to sneak a few buds off the cannabis plants growing out in the open. Of course, the mere thought of youngsters getting high courtesy of Mrs. Robinson’s herb garden has invoked a heavy level of panic among that percentage of the population whose faith in salvaging what is left of civil society lies only in their ability to impose bans against anything and everything they feel is a threat to the sanctity of their community. These people, which include law enforcement, are now standing behind this bill, which intends to hold the state’s medical marijuana patients to the same standards as the recreational sector by forcing them to build secure grow houses for all of their cannabis horticulture endeavors.

Sergeant Jim Gerhardt of the Thorton Police Department recently testified before a Senate committee, saying that outdoor pot gardens have become a wicked temptation for children all across the state. Showing lawmakers photos of a group of pot plants growing within close proximity to a school, Gerhardt said “Kids going to middle school were walking through the greenbelt… and they were reaching over the fence and grabbing handfuls of marijuana.”

Although supporters argue the bill is only intended to prevent kids from stealing marijuana from the backyards of patients, opposing forces claim the measure is simply another attempt at sabotaging the medical marijuana community by creating hardships that would force many participants in the program to abandon home cultivation altogether. These people argue that there are already laws in place that make it illegal to steal pot from outdoor gardens and that this is really a law enforcement issue.

Several medical marijuana advocates also testified before the committee, arguing that they shouldn’t be forced to lock up their gardens because cannabis is a non-toxic plant and there are not similar regulations for dangerous prescription narcotics. Essentially, those who oppose this bill believe if lawmakers are going jam them up with a new provision making it mandatory to keep personal grow sites enclosed then people who use prescription drugs should also be required to put their pills under lock and key.

While the argument of the medical marijuana community is certainly admirable, and true for the most part, it is going to be a tough sell convincing lawmakers that they should be allowed to continue growing weed in a manner that allows children easy access.

The measure did manage to pass the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee, earlier this week, but it only did so by a vote of 5 to 4. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

What do you think? Are kids in jeopardy around cannabis grows?