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 ...
I used to live there in the 4-corners area and Utah!
1954-1956 and 1973-1977.
Only left because I got a great job elsewhere and the Indian troubles of 1974-76. Always wish I could have stayed there.
I go back every chance I get. Was last there in 2015. Now too old to go back.
I remember when the Fairchild Plant at Shiprock was taken over by radicals back then.
Does Marinseck is speaking out because of the bums coming in from out of town is giving him competition while he is panhandling?
Hey, if you want help, take my advice to heart...Clean yourself up, get a job and move into an apartment...
I like your tagline. Reminds me of the graffiti scratched on the wall of a Politician’s home in ANCIENT Pompeii. “HOC EGO CACAVI”.
I frequented Durango a few years back. The townsfolk were complaining about the tide of Californians settling there. Now the pot and lowlifes who follow the scent. From there crime will increase.
Progress, there’s no stopping it.
Absolutely! Let's hear it for state's rights!
It's the only argument for diversity I've heard that actually makes sense.
Whoever made that map must have been stoned. It shows Wyoming as the focal point, not Colorado. All those Very Large Square States look alike I guess.
They don’t have legal weed though
It’s sad, Colorado is one of the most beautiful states, was very charming, now, I don’t know.
About 12 years ago, there was an interview on NPR with a Dutch PhD guy who was discussing the increasing problem in the Netherlands of people going on physical disability class at youthful ages. The NPR guy tried to lead the conversation in a certain way...almost in some effort to avoid discussing the ‘other’ topic.
So the PhD Dutch guy describes how people are having more and more mental-issue type retirements (not physical issues like your back or crippling disease). At some point, he notes a fair number of the applicants have anxiety-related issues. They can’t cope with work or the stress in some office or shop. They eventually get a doctor to sign off, and go on medical retirement....some in the 30s....a few even in their 20s.
These are people, if you think about it....affected by continued and hyped-up use of marijuana. Society in the Netherlands now has to pay for their status in life. Eventually, I think the same issue will occur in Colorado. With these homeless losers in Colorado...they’d need a rehab program and be forced off the stuff for at least a year to have some success.
They don’t have legal weed though
So what?
I remember having discussions with you a few years ago. I wish you were still here. We need good people like you.
Regards-
Colorado Democrats are nothing but Marxist fools wearing Hillary Clinton pins and have managed to wreck a once great state.
Let the leftist liberal bastards suffer for a long time until the sane people of the state conduct an election purge that cleans out the Democrat Party political cesspools of power.
Otherwise, screw you if you are too stupid to see what you have wrought.
And trying to blame a harmless plant God put on this earth for our use, geez, How did mankind survive and flourish all these years until we criminalized a natural plant in 1937?? Cant believe all these comments on this thread sound like they are coming from a bunch of brain washed government educated fools.... REEFER MADNESS, REEFER MADNESS! But, no problem with a few drinks after work every night right?? I keep seeing these daytime talk shows and even news segments getting in on the mixed drink fad... continually showing them making and drinking all these mixed drinks. Pushing alcohol on daytime TV when we know it kills thousands of people every year both directly and indirectly.
How was that again?!
How many lives has alcohol ruined? What tremendous socio-economic toll has alcoholism taken? What are the health costs?
Regards,
“Only a fool or an addict would contend that marijuana is not addictive.”
Only the uniformed & willfully ignorant make such fact-free statements.
It sounds to me like half the force is spending its time on something other than routine policing.
This isn’t due to legalization; it’s due to the continued prohibition on the NM side.
Did you think supply and demand stops at a state border? If the residents of this town want to point a finger, it should be pointed at their neighbor’s archaic, despotic, and tyrannical policies that are the root cause of their troubles.
That is a gag map. Thus the heading... "WHEN YOU SEE IT".
I hope you knew that. Only one other reader noticed.
Geez...
The "homeless" (bums) have been present in many communities, but not all, for years, for various reasons.
Bums are not welcome in all communities, but in places where the electorate is largely controlled by affluent Democrats, the "homeless" are often attracted by a higher level of tolerance for their presence and more generous, easily obtained public benefits.
I suspect that these conditions are probably more a factor in Durango than the fact that pot has been legalized in Colorado. Just my take on this article.
Re: Florida’s bums...In Tampa, in one area near Downtown, you can see the homeless just sleeping in the park (which is nicknamed Spice Park), on the sidewalks, in vacant lots (a friend of mine posted a sign on his vacant lot - This is not the KOA, you will be arrested for trespassing.) and bus shelters. Near my office, they hang out asking for change....I tell them that I give at the office with my taxes, so find a job! They don’t like it.
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