Pro-pot group supports sheriff busts

The sale of recreational marijuana in Pueblo County has provided more than a million dollars in taxes.

“The excise tax has been reserved for scholarships, other projects, the state fair,” said Ieshia Jiron, the general manager of Leaf On The Mesa.

But the illegal grows are putting the marijuana industry in a bad light.

“When you welcome this industry, you welcome all of it, even the bad parts,” said Charlene Graham, Citizens For A Healthy Pueblo chairwoman.

Dispensary owners say illegal grows are hurting legitimate businesses like Leaf On The Mesa.

“They make us look really bad when we’re trying to be a legitimate business here and trying to run a legitimate cannabis facility,” Jiron said.

So members are coming out in support of the ongoing busts of illegal marijuana grows in Pueblo County.

“We don’t think it’s fair that these illegal growers should be out there wasting tax dollar monies with the sheriff (having) to keep doing these busts,” Jiron said.

Graham is leading a petition drive to reverse Amendment 64 in Pueblo County. She hopes the recent busts are an eye-opener for people headed to the polls in November.

“This is one of the things that we were told when Amendment 64 passed that retail marijuana would do away with illegal grows,” Graham said.

The question is whether black market activity in the county is helping or hurting those trying to legally grow in the county.