Pubdate: Thu, 03 Dec 2009
Source: Daily Times-Call, The (Longmont, CO)
Copyright: 2009, The Daily Times-Call
Contact:  http://www.timescall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1475
Author: Scott Rochat
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

CLEARING THE AIR: LYONS STARTS COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ON  MEDICAL
POT

LYONS -- No, a medical marijuana dispensary doesn't  have to be
licensed with the DEA.

Yes, you can call the cops if a teenager comes into one  without a
parent.

And yes, a community can regulate dispensaries -- but  running them
out of town is another story.

That's how Lyons' first community meeting on medical  marijuana kicked
off Wednesday night. About 40 people  discussed the issue with a panel
at Rogers Hall.

Lyons already has two dispensaries, and three more are  pending.
Because of that, Mayor Julie Van Domelen said,  it was important to
talk with residents on the subject.

"Part of the education is sorting out what's fact and  what's
fiction," she told the audience. "But one fact I  want to make clear
right now: the board of trustees has  no intention of banning medical
marijuana from Lyons."

Amendment 20 to the Colorado Constitution allows  licensed patients to
possess up to two ounces of the  drug for medical purposes. For many,
that's provided  through a caregiver -- including dispensaries.

Panelist Ed Bruder, who holds a license, said that the  situation
could seem invasive from the patients' side.

"If a cancer patient had to register with the state to  get chemo, or
if zoning requirements dictated ... where  you could get AIDS
medication, you'd see some  discussion," he said.

But while the amendment sets out requirements for the  patients,
caregivers are another story. Audience member  Mary Aronson of the St.
Vrain Pharmacy noted that her  own pharmacy, she said, has to register
with the DEA to  provide medications classed as controlled substances.

"We pay a lot in license fees," she told panelist Larry  Hill, a
Longmont dispensary owner. "Yet someone can  distribute a controlled
substance without all that."

Hill is among those trying to craft regulations for
dispensaries.

Aronson added that many patients had asked if her  pharmacy could
provide the drug or what interactions it  would have with other medicine.

"I think it's something a pharmacy needs to consider,"  she said. "I
don't know why the state board isn't  talking to pharmacies about it."

One woman said she had seen a teenager walk into a  dispensary with
some friends. Call 911, said panelist  Jeff Gard, an attorney -- the
only caregiver juveniles  can have is their parents.

Since medical marijuana is a constitutional right, Gard  said, towns
can't just ban it -- though some are  trying. Audience member K. Evan
Rude asked about  moratoriums, such as Longmont's; inconvenient, Gard
answered, but not illegal.

"By the time you got to court on a moratorium, the  moratorium would
be over," he said.

The final panelist, Detective Tommy Sloan of the  Boulder County Drug
Task Force, said Boulder County  hasn't seen much in the way of
dispensary-related crime  -- one robbery and one burglary so far.

Sloan said he didn't have much emotional attachment to  the issue; the
medical use is allowed by law, he said,  and most dispensaries are
very cooperative with  officers. Still, he said, the gray areas might
require  a civil suit "to get a judge to set some boundaries."

"There's no guidance out there from the state," he  said. 
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