Growing Pueblo’s Future forum a gathering for Pueblo’s marijuana industry

The forum was originally envisioned to be a forum for both sides to state a case.

What was to be a forum for both sides of Pueblo County ballot question 200, which if passed would prohibit the marijuana industry to operate, ended up being a gathering of marijuana industry supporters talking to an audience of marijuana industry supporters.

The panel of Mesa Organics owners Jim and Pam Parco, Grow for Vets president Rodger Martin and the owner of the country’s largest grow, Bob Degabrielle, talked about what passing 200 would mean across the board to a half-filled ballroom at CSU-Pueblo.

All agreed prohibiting the industry in Pueblo would be devastating for what most described as an already depressed county.

The panel also added that they were all for enforcement, they rejoice when they hear of the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office busting an illegal grow. They want to see the black market disappear, they said.

The real problem, Jim Parco said, isn’t marijuana. It’s the missing police officers. He added that perhaps recreational marijuana could generate some revenue to address the problem.

Jim Parco went on to warn the audience that “well-known prohibitionists in Denver” have been spotted in Pueblo restaurants.

“They are walking our streets,” Jim Parco said, addressing a question about a group other than Citizens for a Healthy Pueblo that has been distributing literature under the name SAFER Pueblo.

Citizens for a Healthy Pueblo is the group that authored question 200 in the county and question 300 in the city, which also prohibits the industry, but in city limits.

It was widely-suspected on social media the group behind the questions was holding its own meeting regarding 200 and 300 across town at St. Therese church, even after being offered an invite from Growing Pueblo’s Future. The pro-200 group told the Pueblo Chieftain earlier this week they would not be attending the forum.

Upon this publishing Citizens for a Healthy Pueblo has not responded to calls from Partake about the meeting or any suspected association with the group SAFER Pueblo.