Pubdate: Sun, 06 Jun 2010
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Bob Greenlee

GOING TO POT

Boulder is recognized as one of the healthiest cities  in the United 
States, if not the world. A recent  Gallup-Healthways Well-Being 
Index studied over 350,000  Americans who were asked about their 
overall attitudes  about their jobs, physical and financial health, 
as  well as the specific places they live. Boulder ranked  first in 
the category of overall well-being when  measured against 162 large 
and medium-sized cities.  That`s hardly surprising when you consider 
that over  53,000 folks recently participated in the Bolder  Boulder 
and hiked and biked and climbed and hopped and  skipped and jumped 
the entire Memorial Day weekend.

With all this emphasis on health and well being it  shocks some 
people to learn that one of Boulder`s  largest new growth industries 
involves the cultivation  and sale of medical marijuana to thousands 
of unhealthy  citizens. The city is apparently the home of 
thousands  of chronically ill people who absolutely require 
they  receive easy access to the purported medical benefits  of what 
was once illicitly sold on the streets and  considered to be an illegal drug.

A local nonprofit group, concerned about our health and  known as 
Grow In Colorado, supports limiting laws that  restrict access to 
pot. They also tout the many health  benefits of cannabis. In a 
recent ad the outfit  suggests ingesting or smoking "weed" provides 
relief to  a variety of chronic ills including 
schizophrenia,  obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia 
nervosa,  psoriasis, Huntington`s Disease, Crohn`s Disease,  multiple 
sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, bipolar  disorder, epilepsy, 
leukemia, Parkinson`s Disease, and  even post traumatic stress 
disorder, along with a host  of other maladies.

In 2000 Colorado voters approved an amendment to the  State`s 
Constitution that permits the use of medical  marijuana by people 
with "debilitating medical  conditions" who would be required to 
obtain a permit to  do so by qualified medics. Colorado is just one 
of many places where the whole medical marijuana industry has  been 
the subject of regulatory concern and not all of  Colorado`s 
municipalities have fully endorsed the  licensing of dispensaries. 
Boulder has been the primary  haven for the medical marijuana 
industry that has grown  to include over one hundred operating 
dispensaries and over twenty operating growers within its city 
limits.  That represents about 25 percent of all pot purveyors  in Colorado.

Elsewhere in Boulder County, Longmont has just eight  dispensaries 
while Louisville and Lafayette each have  two. Broomfield has been 
waiting for the governor to  sign the newly enacted state laws that 
will regulate  the industry and hasn`t given the green light to 
allowing medical dispensaries or cultivating pot.  Several cities 
have not yet acted on local zoning or  licensing requirements and 
Boulder County is in the  process of reviewing what regulations it 
might enact in  unincorporated areas. The county`s Planning 
Commission  recently voted 5 to 1 to recommend that the 
County  Commissioners move forward with establishing where and  how 
both dispensaries and growing operations might be  allowed.

One thing seems clear. Of those reported 400 or so  medical marijuana 
dispensaries currently operating  throughout Colorado, about half of 
them are expected to  shut down operations as a result of the newly 
approved  statewide regulations. Some believe the health of the  new 
industry may be in jeopardy. In Boulder, however,  the city reports 
the new industry has already produced  over $125,000 in new sales and 
use taxes just through  February of this year. New revenues are 
always welcomed, but there`s concern over whether or not this  will 
be a "sustainable" enterprise. If other regional  cities impose 
restrictions and continue moratoriums on  expanding medical marijuana 
operations, Boulder will  become even more of a haven for the sick.

Is Boulder`s reputation as a healthy alternative and  organically 
driven refuge in jeopardy? Whether or not  the health, safety, and 
welfare of Boulder citizens  will be enhanced by this growing new 
industry is an  open question begging further study and analysis.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart