Posted on 05/20/2017 5:05:56 PM PDT by Beave Meister
town into homeless magnet By Joseph J. Kolb Published May 17, 2017 Fox News
NOW PLAYING New poll shows shift on marijuana legalization From his sidewalk vantage point in front of an outdoor equipment store in downtown Durango, Colo., Matthew Marinseck has seen a transformation in this mountain resort town.
The picturesque town near the New Mexico border, once a vibrant, upscale community dotted with luxury hotels, is being overrun by panhandlers – thanks, in part, to the legalization of marijuana.
The town suddenly became a haven for recreational pot users, drawing in transients, panhandlers and a large number of homeless drug addicts, according to officials and business owners. Many are coming from New Mexico, Arizona and even New York.
“Legalized marijuana has drawn a lot of kids here from other states and the impact has not all been good,” said Marinseck, 58, while holding a cardboard sign asking for “help.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Well said! Thank you.
It’s still beautiful. LOTS of beautiful open areas. I love my state.
You’re exactly right.
I shouldn’t say that out loud, should I?
I’ve changed my mind, Colorado is the biggest s-hole ever. Everyone stay away! Well just suffer here the best we can.
Please keep that great new hospital in Durango a secret. I drive the 45 minutes to there instead of the 30 minutes to Farmingtons hospital. The difference between the two are night and day.
You need to quit smoking that crap. We already know it destroys brain functions.
Oops. Too late. But you have a nice day, ok?
PS. Funny you should reference the Lord. Romans 13 instructs us to obey the law. And federally, marijuana is still a crime, regardless what stoners in CO say.
Colorado is another place people move trying to escape their problems. Except, when you get to Durango you quickly realize it's a very expensive place to be and not a lot of fun to be there if you don't have lotsa money. Because even though that lifestyle looks really down home and rustic--it's quite an expensive way of life.
You advertise as a haven for stoners and pot heads, that’s what you get. Not exactly your high-class, motivated successful citizens. Now they’ll need all the non-druggie working citizens to fund ‘programs’ for them! Dregs of humanity- I wish Colorado would take them all!
Nice on the hospital. I’m glad you have access to that. :)
We have a huge, wonderful medical campus here in Aurora, CO...where the Fitzsimons AMC once was. It’s helped the area. Thousands of jobs at the hospitals that are on the campus. Trendy food places and nice hotels where once dive motels and rundown businesses and apartments used to be. Medical is always going to be needed. I’m so happy that the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital and others built here.
Durango has had a street people issue for a long time
They have even attempted to criminalize loitering like Aspen and Vail and maybe Telluride and Summit county towns do
But the libs have guilt over it so they squabble about it
The main culprit for bums congregating on Main Street in Durango is alcohol same as most town bums anywhere in the USA
Occasionally some smoke pot too or do crack or pills etc but it's alcohol driven and serious drunks don't like weed trust me
After the mid to late 60s psychedelic explosion the youth culture began to mythologize bucolic rural life over the street psychedelic scenes in the big cities but most notably in the Haight
It even went that way in Europe too...the band Traffic was born from a country self imposed lifestyle etc
Pink Floyd as well
Here it was Crosby Stills and Nash and Jesse Colin Young and Grateful Dead and a plethora of bands extolling idyllic rural life and most of that centered on places like NORCAL or Santa Fe or southwestern Montana or rural Tennessee oddly enough where Steve Gaskins FARM still stands and most importantly Colorado
Colorado was sorta the Mecca of where to go
It's so damn pretty as we all know too well
I've been going since 64 that I can recall and have been at least 50 times and have family and friends there
First it was the hippie generation
Then the Xers
And now hipsters
And each one more PC and indoctrinated than before....
And most from California or the northeast.....
And many are libs
And it's changed the state but what really turned the state Democratic is the huge rise in Latino population
From 3% in 1970 to almost 25% now
Ok so that's the macro view of a once glorious cowboy cattle and oil state dotted with neat ski towns
Durango has a bum problem and most are drunks like anywhere else
I go there I know what I see.....in fact I'll be there in June or mid July
People stand in line at the rec stores to buy weed because they want to buy weed and lines move very slow due to regulations about IDs and so many folks in the viewing and purchasing area and so forth
It's clumsy in my view
Do people here hand-wring about booze in grocery stores...a legitimate gripe in my view
Control booze as strongly as weed it's more dangerous in my opinion although I rarely use either anymore
Now on hippies on the streets
Yes there are rainbow tribe bums all over Colorado but they've been there in one form or another since the early 70s
The nuisance bums I see on Main Ave or Buckley park in Durango are these two camps
Transient druggies who smoke weed but prefer stronger meds and classic drunk bums
This is a problem everywhere that people go
Nashville
New Orleans
Miami
Dallas
Bums whether hippies or drunks go where the panhandling is good
And the local libs cater
Personally I think Colorado should have stayed medical but they smelled cash
The bum issue in Colorado is what it is
If you banned booze and weed and pain pills and meth and local bleeding hearts you might knock it out
I've seen bums all my life....the problem underneath nearly all of it is booze
Pot will never satisfy a drunk trust me
Freepers love to pony up to their virtual bars here so what do I know
Enact anti loitering laws and discourage begging would help
I remember going to Santa Fe in 1969 and the Plaza was chock full of hippies all leaning up against the old stone walls which they removed btw...my WWII jolly Rodgers vet uncle hated em lol
Denver today has hipsters maybe in higher numbers than anywhere
And plenty smoke dope and the lower end are kind of day to day sorts too
I'll close on a positive note....parts of rural Colorado especially most of the Western slop are still mostly like it used to be
And we're forgetting the ranching eastern Colorado which remains as always
So many pass through Durango headed to Silverton and Ouray or the corner highway Utah and Moab or Cortez to Monument valley Make sure to buy goodies at Jean Pierre bakery ....it's incredible...and you can bum watch on Main ave and make your own opinion
Durango winter is hard
January is low teens to low 30s
I shouldn’t say that out loud, should I?
I’ve changed my mind, Colorado is the biggest s-hole ever. Everyone stay away! Well just suffer here the best we can.
That’s right.
STAY AWAY FROM COLORADO OR GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN
We have predator wildlife such as bears, mountain lions, badgers, foxes, coyotes and elk and deer with sharp antlers and very mean rattle snakes.. And terrible mosquitos, ticks, flies, gnats, deer flies, aggressive birds and all sorts of other critters.
Exactly
This is a boozer forum
Check out late night posting
They all detest weed but almost none have ever done anything but drink and smoke cigs and eat too much
There is an abundance of good and fun things to do in the Durango area that doesn’t cost money.
Who Knew?
I’m going to guess you have never smoke pot if you think it does all that
I smoked for about 15 years
So I’ll break it down
Hyperactive rail thin creative can’t sit still folks cannot smoke too much weed...it does not have as bad an effect on them...
It makes them normal speed
Regular folks who smoke all day every day will likely get more apathetic and procrastinate more than otherwise
Some will get what I call an objectionable personality disorder which means they don’t like to be bothered and say no to anything that might change the static effortless lifestyle
Pot is great for trust fund kids like my brother or Shep Rose on Southern Charm reality show
Normal occasional users like folks who smoke after work or befor sex or on a camping trip or at deer camp will have pretty zero negative influences other than the immediate intoxication which is fairly subtle compared to heavy booze use or any cocaine or any hallucinogens
Booze if abuse is exponentially worse
I detest booze more or less
I also detest pothead chronic do nothings
But I know which is worse for America by far
Alcohol
No question
A chronic pothead is not comparable
Restaurants, gas, food, etc.--everything costs a little more. Jobs are limited, etc.
A great place to be if you bring your money from elsewhere or are very enterprising.
That last sentence is bull
I’m intimately familiar with this issue and industry
Zero move,met in that direction
Why not ban alcohol
It’s far worse than pot if you’re actually concerned about dangerous drugs
I’m not a libertarian but I do know weed
I don’t use any drug except punani
That one will sure as hell kill ya
When did you live here?
I agree. It’s obvious.
I have a place just outside of Durango, a vacation spot.
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