BOISE -- Looking ahead to next year, there's a movement underway in Idaho to legalize medical marijuana. States all over the country are talking about this issue and there is an aggressive effort in Idaho to get the issue on the ballot for a citizens' vote next year.
The Treasure Valley - a family community - is where people help their neighbors and compassion is common.
Isaias Valdez hopes to capitalize on Idaho's compassion. He's a volunteer for Compassionate Idaho, a grassroots group working to legalize medical marijuana.
"I don't have a reason for medical marijuana,” said Valdez. “I'm just doing this for the compassion of other people.”
And Valdez has a reason to believe others would have compassion as well.
In February Boise State surveyed 525 Idaho households and found 74 percent would support "terminally and seriously ill patients to use and purchase marijuana for medical purposes." Twenty-three percent said they would not.
Lindsey Rinehart works with Valdez, gathering support across the state at places like the farmer's market in Boise. They need 47,500 signatures to get a medical marijuana initiative on the November 2012 ballot.
"This is about giving people the compassion they deserve. This is about caring about your neighbors, your church, your co-workers," said Rinehart.
The Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization, is campaigning, state by state, to legalize medical marijuana. The group targeted Idaho for 2012 in this video.
As shown in the video, Idaho is already surrounded by states where medical marijuana is legal in some form. The people of Colorado voted to legalize the drug in 2000.
For the first eight years, the number of people possessing medical marijuana cards was low. In 2008 the state went to a dispensary model, selling marijuana in storefronts.
"In the past two or three years we've started to see the rise of real commercial marijuana dispensary businesses," said Josh Ritter, Deputy District Attorney for Fort Collins, Colorado.
Fort Collins is a college town in Larimer County, Colorado. There, marijuana cards have increased 1,400 percent in the county in just three years, going from 500 users to 7,500 people who now hold medicinal marijuana cards.
"There was no change in the health of our community, but the number of users, when the supply showed up commercially, we saw the users go up," said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith.
"We've had an epidemic of chronic pain amongst our 20-40 year old males. A public health concern unprecedented," said Scoot Crandall, Executive Director for Team Fort Collins.
Crandall has been working in the Fort Collins area for over three decades, much of it spent in substance abuse prevention.
"We've never seen the amount of marijuana in our town before," said Crandall.
Area schools have noticed an increase. In a letter to the Fort Collins City Council, Jerry Wilson, Superintendent of the Poudre School District said, "The district has seen the number of drug related expulsions increase from 13 to 40 since 2008, a 300 percent increase." Wilson went on to say that "Students were expelled for either purchasing, selling or possessing marijuana."
"Our kids don't see it as anything dangerous," said Crandall.
Statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health show over 121,000 Coloradans hold marijuana cards. Sixty-eight percent are men with the average age of 40. Ninety-four percent say they need the marijuana for severe pain.
"It's disturbing. We've got a very nice community here,” said Smith. “People have worked really hard over the years to build a quality community in Fort Collins, and I see that starting to come apart with us being the pot capital of Northern Colorado.”
Citizens against the dispensaries gathered enough signatures to put a measure on this year's ballot banning dispensaries in Fort Collins.
"Just kind of looking through the smoke and mirrors, it does look like it has just become a front for recreational use," said Ritter.
They vote on the measure on November 8th.
About an hour south of Fort Collins is Boulder where the University of Colorado Boulder is asking marijuana outlets to stop advertising to college students.
"We had medical marijuana dispensaries directly appealing and marketing to our students, our new students, our freshmen students coming in," said Bronson Hilliard, CU Boulder Spokesperson.
Just last month the Boulder City Council reacted with an ordinance making it illegal for marijuana dispensaries to advertise use other than medicinal.
"We thought it was self-evident, that medical marijuana was for medical purposes," said Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne.
But Osborne says the movement isn't about medicine. She says it’s a lot about money.
University freshmen were open about the issue.
"How hard is it to get marijuana around here, even if you don't have a card?” asked KTVB's Scott Evans. “It's pretty easy," said Julia Waterhouse, a CU Boulder Freshman.
"Are people that sick?” asked Evans. “I don't know. I don't think so," said Marella Alioto, a CU Boulder Freshman. "What do you think it is?," asked Evans. "Recreational," replied Alioto.
"What do you know about the medical marijuana cards?” asked Evans. “They're really easy to get. Some people need them, some people just want them," said Andrew Commander, a CU Boulder Freshman.
For $200 Coloradans can buy a card to legally possess marijuana.
"Do your friends get you marijuana when you need it then?” asked Evans. “No, sometimes, yeah," says Commander.
Commander says some use the drug to self-medicate.
"It helps them sleep or like they just like it at the end of the day, it helps them calm down, so they found their own way to use it as a medical thing," says Commander.
Boulder and Fort Collins are adapting as the marijuana industry grows in their communities.
"Once this gets started, it's a train that's hard to slow down," said Crandall.
"If you open the door on the medicinal, what's sold as medicinal, be aware, it was opening the door to recreational use," said Smith.
Idaho's future has yet to be written. Compassionate Idaho hopes that whatever the future holds, marijuana will be a part of it.
"It's time to stop arresting patients. It's time to stop arresting people that have marijuana for personal medical use," said Rinehart.
Idaho's initiative, the Idaho Medical Choice Act, would provide people with a debilitating medical condition to possess marijuana. They would be allowed to possess two ounces or less of usable marijuana. The law would also allow them to own nine plants.
To see the entire Act, click here.
If you would like to see the Idaho Office of Drug Policy's stance on this measure, click here.
