September 24, 2010 06:27 PM UTC

Garnett Steps Up To Defend Medical Marijuana Grower

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

More to this story than meets the eye politically speaking, the AP reports via FOX 31:

A Democrat running for Colorado attorney general says the federal government should lay off its prosecution of a suburban Denver pot grower.

Stan Garnett said in a statement Thursday that the pending federal case against Christopher Bartkowicz is “unjust and unnecessary.”

More from Democratic candidate Stan Garnett’s statement yesterday:

[T]he ongoing federal prosecution in Denver of medical marijuana grower Christopher Bartkowicz highlights his belief that currently, this complex issue is best dealt with primarily through land-use regulation, rather than the criminal courts. This prosecution, which threatens Mr. Bartkowicz with decades in prison for an activity he believed to be sanctioned under Colorado law as it was currently written, is unjust and unnecessary.

“John Suthers, a professed supporter of states’ rights, and obligated as the current Attorney General to defend Colorado law, should call on the U.S. Attorney to promptly and fairly reach a proportionate and just resolution of this case,” Garnett said. “Colorado needs thoughtful leadership on these complex legal matters. Mr. Suthers’ commitment to states’ rights and federalism is selective, and he raises the issue only if it comports with his socially conservative views.”

In case after case, the incumbent Attorney General has argued for the supremacy of states’ rights, although a closer look at his record reflects that when he moves to defend them, he does so in a fashion clearly meant only to satisfy the conservative wing of his political party – his opposition to gun laws, taking a swipe at gay rights, or the challenge to health care reform being just a few of the examples. If his defense of states’ rights is solid and sincere, the incumbent should stand equally strong in his defense of Colorado’s Amendment 20, said Garnett.

Like we said, there’s more to Garnett’s position on this case than a defense of the rights of this one pot grower to operate under state law. As the number of legal marijuana users has exploded in Colorado under Amendment 20 in recent years, a substantial number of young people and others not predisposed to politics have watched the wrangling over pot in this state with great interest. They already know, for example, that if incumbent John Suthers had his way, the feds would shut down every dispensary in the state–Colorado law or no Colorado law.

In California, a ballot initiative to fully decriminalize marijuana for personal use is up for a vote this year, and is widely expected to pass. What’s more, interest in this ballot initiative could provide an invaluable motivator for getting younger and more liberal voters out to the polls–reinforcements that just might change the game for Democrats on Election Day in that state.

Well, make no mistake, folks–word travels incredibly fast in the Colorado medical marijuana community about developments on issues pertinent to them. Every one of those 100,000+ medical marijuana patients in the state, and all of their friends, will have heard about Stan Garnett’s defense of Chris Bartkowicz before the weekend is out. And they’re going to love him for it.

Garnett may have just given thousands of voters Democrats need…a reason to show up after all.