The weekly newsletter of The Denver Post’s opinion pages.
This is The Denver Post’s Sound Off newsletter. Every Monday, we deliver to your inbox a roundup of what we’ve been publishing on the opinion pages over the past week, including both print and . That includes Denver Post , op-ed by Post columnists like Chuck Plunkett and Megan Schrader as well as nationally syndicated columnists like George F. Will and Garrison Keillor, plus guest commentaries, and editorial .
Perspective
First, a summary of what was in our Sunday Perspective section yesterday:
This week was the latest in our occasional series of themed Perspective sections. The theme this week: marijuana. It’s been nearly five years since Colorado voters approved legal recreational marijuana, and we wanted to check in with government and industry leaders, as well as our readers, on how Colorado’s venture into pot is going.
Pot’s bad rap: Ricardo Baca, the former editor of The Denver Post’s Cannabist website, wrote that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions remains and his arguments about cannabis spring from a politically motivated drug war.
A taxing question: Editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett wrote: Decades of black-market sales taught us that cannabis sold for thousands of dollars per pound. As markets upend the price, how will lawmakers ?
Support the status quo: In its Sunday editorial, the editorial board wrote: President Donald Trump should realize the opportunities in letting the states’ legal cannabis experiment continue. His administration should support the status quo — and do so quickly. He could also from Gov. John Hickenlooper.
States’ rights: Congressman Jared Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, with President Trump: Leave cannabis regulation to the states, Mr. President.
ܳپԲٱԲ: Former educators Sarah Grippa and Molly Lotz, who co-founded the Marijuana Education Initiative, wrote that putting the most current research-based information in the hands of parents, mentors and educators opens the door to helping adolescents about marijuana.
Pot laws difficult to enforce: Greenwood Village police chief John Jackson wrote that the legislature needs to the effects of marijuana legalization on public safety, and the public needs to look at the unintended consequences.
Politics vs. pot: Kayvan Khalatbari and Emmett Reistroffer, who represent Denver Relief Consulting, an international cannabis consultancy, wrote that special interests and establishment politics are Colorado’s cannabis experiment.
A green(er) industry: Amy Andrle, who is co-owner of L’Eagle Services, a clean cannabis cultivation and dispensary, pointed out that cultivating marijuana is , and said the industry could do more to promote environmental sustainability.
Readers’ voices: We asked our readers and Facebook followers whether they thought Colorado’s marijuana experiment was working out. are some of their responses.
In addition to marijuana legalization, Sunday’s Perspective included several other topics:
How to lose elections and influence people: Denver Post columnist and CU staffer Patty Limerick on the time she lost an election to Ralphie the CU sports mascot, as well as other election losses throughout her life.
United’s epic fail: Jon Caldara, writing about the video of a United Airlines passenger being dragged off a flight in Chicago, suggested that .
Grassroots environmentalism: Former Colorado first lady Dottie Lamm several acts environmental activism and Trump policy protests that she found uplifting.
Church and state and scraped knees: Washington Post columnist George F. Will weighed in on a church-and-state case in Missouri that involved that state’s constitution, a bit of 19th century bigotry, and the inability of a church’s preschool to get for the surface of its playground.
On the letters page, Denver Post readers tackled several issues. Here are several of their letters:
The past week
Here are highlights from last week’s opinion coverage:
Denver Post editorials:
Transit troubles: In this age of rapid technology advancements, that a private company has been unable to program crossing-guard arms to open and close at the appropriate times for RTD’s new A-Line and B-Line commuter rail routes serving Denver International Airport and Westminster.
Doing his part: Colorado and Denver are lucky to have a governor and a mayor with the heart to help the homeless, but also to have folks like Scott Kerr — who runs a that will soon travel around the city helping those in need — willing to do their part.
A stand against corruption: Colorado’s Rep. to speak up about the pay-to-play politics in the U.S. House that he says have created a corrupt system where itap “better to sink the nation with debt than rock the boat with reform.”
Escalating foreign conflicts: President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has gone from confusing to terrifying. He’s abroad at an alarming rate and has been either unwilling or unable to articulate a clear strategy.
Free Rene: Rene Lima-Marin was mistakenly freed from a Colorado prison in 2008, then returned in 2014 after the mistake was discovered. In the time he was out, he started a family and showed that he was reformed. Gov. John Hickenlooper should so he can return to his life.
Op-ed columns:
Higher (and higher) ed: Columnist and editorial writer Megan Schrader wrote: America doesn’t need free college tuition for all subsidized by taxpayers. What it needs is smart consumers of higher education who on the unsustainable rate increases.
Leave NREL alone: Greg Dobbs questioned the Trump administration’s desire to cut funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, as it is a of cutting-edge research and industry.
Hang it up, sanctuary cities: Republican state Sens. Tim Neville and Vicki Marble argued that Colorado should and begin to put the safety and civil rights of our citizens above the fake humanitarianism and ambitions of local politicians.
Why WikiLeaks publishes: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, why the organization does what it does: “Our motive is identical to that claimed by The New York Times and The Washington Post — to publish newsworthy content.”
Trump’s Mini-Me? The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin argued that much-maligned White House press secretary Sean Spicer is to speak for President Donald Trump.
The visual president: Garrison Keillor suggested that is to appeal to his emotions, particularly via television.
The name game: Bloomberg View’s Justin Fox asked: the Guggenheim museum were named for the woman it owes its existence to — Hildegard Anna Augusta Elisabeth Rebay von Ehrenwiesen — rather than Solomon Guggenheim, whose fortune paid for it?
The unfriendly skies: We published several commentaries last week in response to United Airlines’ passenger-dragging episode:
Fredrick Kunkle, who runs The Washington Postap , wrote: — until you started dragging people off planes.
Kara Alaimo, an assistant professor of public relations at Hofstra University, wrote: how United should have handled its public relations nightmare.
Josh Brodbeck, a Denver-based management consultant who flies 75,000-100,000 miles a year, argued that flying United is — except for at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where the recent incident occurred.
Bloomberg View columnist Cass R. Sunstein explained to ease the pain of airline overbooking.
Letters to the editor:
Notable and quotable
“When they nominated me for attorney general, you would have thought the biggest issue in America was when I said, ‘I don’t think America’s going to be a better place if they sell marijuana at every corner grocery store.’ (People) didn’t like that; I’m surprised they didn’t like that.”
Jeff Sessions, U.S. attorney general
If someone forwarded this to you and you’d like to sign up yourself, .
Follow us on Twitter:
And on Facebook:
