One Colorado school district is so concerned that legal marijuana operations will cause drug cartels to rain down a shower of gun violence against area children, that they are now allowing teachers to carry firearms.
According to a report from the Gazette, the school board responsible for Hanover School District 28, which encompasses an area just outside Colorado Springs, recently voted (3-to-2) to give teachers and other educational staff members the freedom to pack heat on the job.
It seems that ever since some of the more overzealous school officials learned that a handful of marijuana cultivation sites were moving into the area, they have been worried about the possibility of a gang of stoned hooligans marching up to the steps of the two schools in El Paso County and mowing students down with a barrage of bullets that rivals the Sandy Hook massacre.
"There are three (grows) within 2 miles of the school," board member Michael Lawson said. "The Cuban and Colombian cartels are buying up land to grow marijuana in Colorado. We need to look at the safety of the schools and the kids."
However, School board President Mark McPherson, who does not support arming teachers, believes all of the noise reverberating throughout the community about drug cartels moving into the neighborhood is just a rumor. In fact, he only knows of one nearby marijuana grow operation, which is legally sanctioned, and it is about five miles away from either school.
"Our rooms are supposed to be locked and secure. We have cameras. We have a very vigilant staff," McPherson told the Associated Press. "We are authorizing teachers to pull a weapon and kill a human being, and I cannot support that."
While it is ridiculous to consider that members of the legitimate cannabis industry would pose a threat to area school children, there is some evidence that the cartels are operating in the shadows of Colorado’s legal market.
Just last week, Governor Hickenlooper announced that legislation would be dealt with in 2017 intended to make it more difficult for the black market to continue operating in the grey areas of the state’s cannabis laws.
The latest news out of El Paso County, however, is a prime example of old school reefer madness style fear tactics that have been perpetuating the myth of marijuana’s monster for decades.
Legal marijuana businesses do not target children, and they damn sure don’t send in armed goons to shoot up schools.
