Colorado pot activist seeks ‘sanctuary’ status for town

NEDERLAND, Colorado: Surrounded by tie-dyed T-shirts and marijuana pipes at her gift shop in the Colorado mountain town of Nederland, veteran pot activist Kathleen Chippi seems an unlikely candidate to have voted no when the state legalised recreational weed in 2012.

She says the measure was “fake” legalisation because marijuana remains prohibited by federal law, and users, including medicinal pot patients and their caregivers, still risk having their lives ruined by prosecution and jail time.

But in what appears to be a largely symbolic move of her own, Chippi,

is now leading an effort to have Nederland, population about 1 500, declared the world’s first “sanctuary” for therapeutic and spiritual consumers of the drug.

Based on the “sanctuary city” laws that dozens of US cities used to shield Central and Southern American refugees from deportation in the 1980s, the proposal is likely to go to residents for a vote.

“Just like with immigration policy, we need a place where people can be protected,” said Chippi, speaking in her shop near the foot of the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

Protecting the spiritual use of cannabis is crucial for the 46-year-old. Several years ago she founded the Closer to the Heart Cannabis Ministry, which she says has more than 300 members who believe marijuana is the “Tree of Life” and its use a sacrament.

She opened Nederland’s first medical pot dispensary in 2009, and eventually had more than 2 400 patients.

But she closed it the following year, angered by regulations she viewed as a “violation of the constitutional rights of sick people”. She has since sued the state six times seeking changes in the rules and greater clarity for users and caregivers. At the same time, she began planning a “sanctuary” ordinance.

The proposal would prohibit the town from using funds to enforce any marijuana law affecting therapeutic or spiritual uses of cannabis, as long as its use harmed no one else.

“I wanted to help them because it’s my belief that cannabis is not an evil weed. There are people who use it for spiritual purposes. “Yes, some people abuse it, but that doesn’t mean other people should be harmed as a result.”

Nederland, which began in the 1850s as a trading post where European settlers could do business with local Ute Indians, later became a mining town. In recent decades it became a draw for hippies and those attracted to its quirky, easygoing ambience.

This month the town hosted its annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, celebrating an effort by a Norwegian immigrant to preserve his grandfather’s corpse. It features music, beer and events such as coffin races, a polar plunge and frozen salmon tossing.

Town administrator Alisha Reis said the attorney’s office did not have an opinion on Chippi’s proposed ordinance yet because she had not formally submitted it. They would “process this initiative just like any other.” – Reuters