This week on Notified let’s go deeper into the marijuana busts in Pueblo County. Is there a problem and is Pueblo County hearing the entire story on the increased busts? But first about the hospitals coming out in favor of prohibition.

100 percent of Pueblo hospitals give 50 percent of the facts on marijuana incidents.

Pueblo’s hospitals have thrown themselves into the battle over whether the county should scrap the recreational marijuana industry. The hospitals are backing the petition with statistics. Statistics, that without exact numbers, can have a whole different connotation.

At an event hosted by Pueblo for Positive Impact, the group behind the petition, St. Mary-Corwin’s CEO Brian Moore said of the babies born in March that were tested for suspected prenatal drug exposure, half had THC in their system. 50 percent is a big jump, but what do the numbers look like?

Out of 52 babies born at St. Mary Corwin, 11 were tested and five tested positive for THC. The hospitals says they stick to a strict verbal screening when deciding whether to test a newborn for prenatal drug exposure.

Moore added that when drug tests were performed on level I and II trauma patients — not all patients receive drug tests— the hospital saw a 32 percent jump in people with THC in their blood. But Moore didn’t provide any details on how they reached this 32 percent.

Parkview CEO Mike Baxter is on the same page. He said the hospital has seen a 51 percent increase over the past two years of kids ages 18 and younger for marijuana-related conditions. PULP asked for the numbers. In the past two years that translates into 99 cases. Meaning, in 2012 and 2013 the hospital counted just over 50 cases in the course of two years.

PULP has not received clarification on what a ‘marijuana-related condition’ is as of this posting. Also it’s unclear at this point if other hospitals across the state are seeing the same trends.

Pueblo West pot busts for days

It’s been a busy month and a half for the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office. The agency made 19 arrests and seized more than 4,000 marijuana plants in 13 illegal marijuana grows in Pueblo West homes since March 14.

So, are the marijuana grow busts a Pueblo West thing?

No. Last month, 12 marijuana home grows were discovered in Denver in one night. The bust took place in 20 different locations across four counties in the Denver metro area.

While the PW busts are most recent, the trend is not local.

Last year, 32 were arrested and 20,000 plants were confiscated in a six-week period across the state. Part of that cluster was an operation in Cotopaxi and Westcliffe. Twenty people were arrested and 1,000 plants and 50 pounds of dried marijuana were confiscated. Also, authorities found 28 firearms and $25,000 in cash.

But, Pueblo County is claiming to be leading the state in regulations?

There has been some disagreement between Pueblo County Commissioners and the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office over what’s driving the grows.

Commissioner Sal Pace has said, “We agree wholeheartedly with law enforcement that illegal home grows need to stop; that’s why we’ve led the state putting laws in place to limit these grows.”

But curbing the amount of plants in a residence has mainly come on the medical side of regulation. Pueblo County caps medicial marijuana caregivers to 18 plants. That limit is much higher elsewhere in Colorado. Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office PIO Gayle Perez told PULP none of the growers involved in the last month of busts had caregiver licenses. One had partial paperwork, but even that grow came well more than the 18 plants. The grower had more than 100.

Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor has said these busts have come from people who are exploiting the ‘loopholes’ in Amendment 64 and Amendment 20. But is his this term accurate? Large grows such as the one in Pueblo West were illegal before the amendments 20 and 64 and after. A loophole in a law would mean the act is legal.

The public has been driving the marijuana busts.

What’s been the reason for the increased busts? Both the sheriff’s department and the county agree it’s the citizens who have been keeping an eye out for suspicious activity.

They aren’t all busts…

PCSO has also followed up on tips and it turned out people were within the law with no more plants than the legal limit.

It should also be noted the sheriff’s office told PULP the department has also followed up on tips and it turned out people were within the law, with no more plants than the legal limit. Perez said tips have been coming in so many forms it’s difficult to track. While some have been phone calls, others have been after events the sheriff attended.

PULP asked the sheriff’s department for more information the number of tips that ended up being legal home cultivation. Perez said it’s hard to distinquish the tips that ended up being legal.

Sorry, not done with pot yet

Remember that marijuana scholarship?

Only three students have applied for the first-ever scholarship funded by legal marijuana. The deadline is Friday and students must be planning to attend PCC or CSU-Pueblo for college. The county planned on awarding 25 $1,000 scholarships through the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation.

Last minute applicants, you can do this! Find the paperwork here.

#Sorrynotsorry

Black Hills denied blank check

Another day, another battle with Black Hills. Score one for Pueblo County.

The Public Utilities Commission voted 3–0 Wednesday to deny an application that Pueblo County commissioners said looked a lot like a jump in utility rate prices.

“Black Hills is asking the PUC to allow them to write themselves a blank check, which scares the hell out of me,” County Commissioner Sal Pace said it a statement prior to the commission meeting.

The application asked the PUC if Black Hills could purchase natural gas reserves, which they planned to drill themselves. The county said the application was mysteriously vague, probably because they wanted to sell it back to Pueblo customers and make a profit.

PULP May Issue

The paper is on its way to a news stand near you.