We’re not surprised the Denver Board of Ethics concluded that city inspectors for marijuana licensing can’t work as paid consultants to the cannabis industry elsewhere.
Of course they shouldn’t. That’s a no-brainer.
What’s shocking is that inspectors wouldn’t assume such moonlighting is out of bounds. It’s such an obvious conflict of interest and, had it been approved, would have called into question their ability to enforce the city’s rules. After all, faithful enforcement might have ruffled the feathers of elements of the very industry from which they hoped to take a paycheck in another capacity.
That said, Denver seems to have been doing a pretty good job overseeing marijuana businesses, even stepping in and acting when the state appeared to fall down on the job — in the application of pesticides, for example.
Having inspectors moonlight as paid consultants would only have jeopardized that record.
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