Tag Archives: Robert Corry

Editorial

A Founding father of legal reveals regrets

Excerpts from PERSPECTIVE, published in The Colorado Springs Gazette, April 4, 2021

Editor’s note: Robert Corry played a prominent and pivotal role in the movement to legalize marijuana in Colorado. The University of Colorado graduate and Stanford-trained lawyer helped draft groundbreaking Amendment 64 on Colorado’s 2012 statewide ballot — permitting production and retail sales of recreational pot. Corry also designed and implemented the dispensary framework for patients and caregivers under Amendment 20, enacted by the state’s voters in 2000 to allow medical use of marijuana. As a trial attorney, he represented hundreds of clients accused of marijuana-related offenses, and he litigated cases and administrative actions involving Amendment 64’s implementation. Yet, nearly a decade after voter approval of his handiwork, he now professes deep disappointment and wide-ranging regrets. In today’s Perspective, he issues a searing indictment of how legalization has turned out. He decries the legal marijuana industry’s “crony” capitalism and its cozy relationship with government. He lets on, “I wish I could be proud of what we created, but I’m not. The outcome of 64 is shameful, hurts people, and Colorado is not ‘safer.’ ”

We started with the best of intentions. Colorado Amendment 64, which I helped draft, made three Continue reading A Founding father of legal reveals regrets →

Drug Policy

Can states regulate marijuana?

 Many people tell us that the solution to the problems of marijuana legalization is “regulating,” so that the stronger stuff will no longer be sold.  Let’s go back to the marijuana of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, they say. (THC levels had skyrocketed from 3.6% in the 1990s to around 20% in Colorado and more than 20% in Washington.) Can states regulate marijuana? 

Since states are the “laboratories of democracy,” and several states have had legalization for years, we can evaluate whether or not regulation works.

The answer is no.  Continue reading Can states regulate marijuana? →

Colorado, News Articles

Crime Goes Up in Colorado Following Legalization

Today the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Tracking Authority (RMHIDTA) issued a Press Release.  The report counters much of the drug lobbying group’s “spin” on marijuana.

Spin: Drug Policy Alliance’s recent Status Report: Marijuana Legalization in Colorado After One Year of Retail Sales [2014] and Two Years of Decriminalization [2013]” claims: “Since the first retail marijuana stores opened on January 1st, 2014, the state of Colorado has benefitted from a decrease in crime rates…”

Truth: According to Denver Police Department’s National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), total reported crimes for all Continue reading Crime Goes Up in Colorado Following Legalization →