Pubdate: Tue, 25 May 2010
Source: Durango Herald, The (CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Durango Herald
Contact: http://durangoherald.com/write_the_editor/
Website: http://durangoherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/866
Author: Ann Butler

COUNTY CONSIDERS MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGS

State Legislation Adds Authority

La Plata County's quest to enact its own regulations  for medical
marijuana production and sales has been  both clarified and
complicated by the Colorado  Legislature.

"Two weeks ago, the Legislature passed new legislation  for counties
to regulate medical marijuana," Assistant  County Attorney Paul Kosvik
said Monday at an open  house hosted by the county. "Now we have this
whole new  scheme that's been presented to us."

The open house, the second the county has held since  commissioners
declared a six-month moratorium on  approving land-use code
regulations on the issue, was  mainly a review of the bill, HB
10-1284, and how the  county might react. About 17 people attended,
many of  whom either work for the county or are lawyers.

"Until this, the county could only really regulate  medical marijuana
through land-use codes," Kosnik said.  "That's different than the city
of Durango, which does  it through business licenses. This creates
state and  local licensing authorities that were originally  modeled
on liquor licenses."

The legislation will allow the county to license  medical marijuana
centers - currently called  dispensaries. It also allows the county to
license  optional premises cultivation and medical  marijuana-infused
products manufacturing.

The bill is currently on Gov. Bill Ritter's desk  awaiting his
signature.

The attendees at the open house focused primarily on  regulations for
farmers who want to grow medical  marijuana on their property.

"I really feel like they missed the whole aspect on how  it's farmed,"
said Kai Hill, who is a farmer and the  owner of Durango Wellness, a
medical marijuana  dispensary that opened in March. "There's a real
difference between a big commercial warehouse in  Denver, outside on a
farm or inside someone's house."

His wife, Sarah Hill, agreed, adding that medical  marijuana can be a
real boon to small farms.

"People are losing their farms when just growing hay or  veggies," she
said. "Now there's one crop that many  people are reporting is
literally saving their farms."

Timing is a real issue. The legislation would go into  effect in July
2011, and one of its provisions is that  counties may continue
moratoriums until that time,  significantly longer than the current
six months  allowed by state statute. Those with approval prior to
July 2010 would be grandfathered in.

La Plata County is under a moratorium right now, and  that left
producers wondering if they would be  considered law breakers until
2011.

That included two men who are farmers and are  considering growing
medical marijuana but were too  concerned about legal issues to give
their names.

"We want things to be done in a proper manner," one of  them said.
"That's why we're here and speaking pretty  openly about something
that's not spoken about openly.  If you put some basic things in
place, people will  comply. We want to be in compliance before July
2011."

The state bill allows optional premises providers to  keep the
location where they are growing marijuana  private, because security
has been a prime concern for  local governments and law-enforcement
agencies.

"Cattle rustling or water rights or this, people have  been protecting
their more valuable cash crops for  years," Kai Hill said. "It doesn't
take guns and  Rottweilers to protect the medical marijuana crop, just
  discretion."

Stuart Prall, a local attorney, said security, odors  and fire seem to
be the main issues. One of his clients  was recently denied a business
license by the city to  have a growth facility in Bodo Park because it
would  have been in a building with multiple uses, and the  city was
concerned about the risk of fires.

"Security and odors are easy to mitigate," he said.  "And maybe you
could just have an electrician confirm  that the building is up to
code for safety."

Prall added that he's already aware of a group of  lawyers in Denver
who are planning a court challenge of  the legislation.

In the meantime, La Plata County staff members are  still considering
the recommendations they will make to  commissioners.

"What would the best practices be to be sure you're not  running afoul
of your neighbors?" County Attorney  Sheryl Rogers asked.

Her office and the Planning Department are both seeking  comments and
suggestions from county residents about  what the county should
require before granting a  license. 
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