the 30-year Dunedin Study of more than 1,000 people found that those who used pot regularly as teens and young adults permanently reduced their IQ scores by 6 points.
Now two pot businesses want to open up shop on Denver's popular 16th Street Mall, a one mile stretch that
has 100 restaurant and beverage/entertainment establishments and one liquor store, drawing locals and visitors. It also draws complaints of beggars, transients and fights.
Alcohol is
already a problem downtown and it could get worse given legislation now being considered. Lower Downtown — with its multitude of bars and restaurants that become Denver's most dangerous area when liquor service ends at 2 a.m., according to the police — is already known for late-night fights. Drunks spill into the streets, fight with fists, knives and guns; there have been deaths and serious injuries.
The strangest solution offered for this problem is a bill sponsored by state Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, which would allow local governments to set alcohol's "last call" as late as 4:30 a.m. Booze could flow all night.
The trouble is caused by liquor, and now everyone could drink more, longer? Is the idea that more people would be "falling down drunk" and so there'd be fewer confrontations? Longer hours would certainly be more costly for business owners.
Less drinking, not more, seems more likely to reduce the mayhem. Perhaps we should go the opposite way: Years ago, liquor service at Colorado restaurants and stores ended at midnight Saturday, and lasted all 24 hours of Sunday. That was a little difficult to explain to out-of-staters, but it did seem to work.
As for guns, the legislature passed bills last year that dictated expanded background checks, with a fee, for all would-be purchasers, and limiting ammunition magazines to 15 rounds. Lots of furor followed, with 396,955 Coloradans trying to buy a gun in 2013. Only 1.9 percent were denied. How many will train on proper usage and how to secure guns safely?
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