Vail Daily letter: Highway 6 and marijuana

An argument I heard needs to be addressed. It was, “What about how much alcohol is sold on Highway 6?” With alcohol we have at least 50 years of study. With marijuana, we don’t even know how many nanograms causes impaired driving. A deputy in the Sheriff’s Office confided that the 5 nanograms was pulled out of the air. The expert in Eagle County believes the nanograms will soon be declared to be either 1 or 2. On Highway 6, we shouldn’t compound the problem of alcohol by adding recreational marijuana.

Freedom should be linked with responsibility. Eagle County is so fortunate to have Interstate 70 as a safer and better place to sell recreational marijuana. Statistics dictate fatalities on Highway 6. According to the resident engineer at CDOT in Grand Junction, Sean Yates, the exact traffic on Highway 6 in 2012 was 4 million vehicles in the 11-school area between the Catholic church and Arrowhead. The yearly traffic on the spur road between Interstate 70 and the center of Edwards is 5 million. The yearly traffic on Interstate 70 is 14 million vehicles.

I surely would like to see Eagle County outsmart the rascals who tried to foist the trick ballot on us. We voted for legalization and taxation, not saturation.

Let the Eagle-Vail applicant on Highway 6 have first choice at a great location north of Interstate 70. Public safety is the No. 1 responsibility of the government, isn’t it?

Barbara Allen