Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Friday, February 12, 2010

Covert medical-marijuana growing operations surface in suburban homes - The Denver Post

Covert medical-marijuana growing operations surface in suburban homes - The Denver Post

HIGHLANDS RANCH — From the outside, Chris Bartkowicz's house looks like most of the others in his Highlands Ranch neighborhood.

The interior is a different story.

Bartkowicz has built a large medical-marijuana growing operation in the basement of his $637,000 suburban home, and he is far from alone.

9News discovered that dozens of suburban homes around Denver have been converted to indoor medical-marijuana farms.

"Whether it's a small grow or a big grow, I don't think the average person realizes how close to their front door it is," Bartkowicz said.

"I'm definitely hidden in suburbia," he said.

A jungle of electrical wires and water hoses snakes from room to room in the home's basement, all supporting Bartkowicz's nearly $500,000 medical-marijuana operation.

This year, he is hoping for a record profit.

"I'd like to see somewhere in the vicinity of $400,000 " he said, though he admits he could make as little as $100,000 depending on what happens with proposed laws regarding medical marijuana.

For now, state law allows people to grow six plants per medical- marijuana patient they serve. But changes contemplated in the legislature could restrict the size of operations like Bartkowicz's, or require a deeper relationship with patients than just being a pot farmer.

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