Nebraska to Colorado: your weed stinks
LatestSheriffs in Nebraska and Oklahoma have a message for Colorado: keep the sticky icky on your side of the border.
The two states are suing Colorado over legal marijuana, asking the Supreme Court to kill provisions of the 2012 law allowing cannabis to be sold legally.
The discrepancy in laws has led to a showdown in border towns like Sidney, Neb. The police chief there, B.J. Wilkinson, says wayward weed is making its way into his normally law-abiding community.
“I’m not disputing the fact that the people of Colorado voted to make this opportunity exist. I get all that,” he told NPR. “My problem is, is that the fallout from it is impacting our way of life and our quality of life here.”
Indeed, marijuana does appear to be crossing state borders. One dispensary in Sedgwick, Colo., sits 10 minutes away from the Nebraska state line. Signs posted around the town tell ganja tourists not to carry their purchases outside Colorado, but reporters haven’t had a difficult time finding people who break the rules.
Marijuana confiscated in Deuel County, Neb., July 2014. (Credit: Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Residents in Nebraska may not be ready for legal pot. An effort to get medical marijuana on the ballot in 2014 failed when organizers couldn’t collect enough signatures in support of the measure.
Cannabis possession is decriminalized in Nebraska, but enforcement disproportionately impacts minorities. A report by the American Civil Liberties Union found blacks were five times more likely to be arrested or given a citation for a marijuana crime.
Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.