Pubdate: Sat, 07 Aug 2010
Source: Loveland Connection (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Loveland Connection
Contact: http://www.coloradoan.com/section/LOVELAND0802
Website: http://www.lovelandconnection.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5172
Author: Maria Schmitt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries

LOVELAND COUNCIL OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BALLOT LANGUAGE

LOVELAND - While the Loveland City Council voted Tuesday on official 
ballot language to put the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries in 
voters' hands, shop owners were busy drafting suggested regulations 
and making their way to shops around town to help tame some of the 
more outrageous slogans and signs on dispensaries.

During Tuesday's meeting, the council unanimously approved official 
language to place the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot.

After some discussion, the ballot question was finally worded so that 
a "yes" vote means the voter wishes to allow the city to permit and 
license the dispensaries.

A "no" vote means voters want to ban the licensing of dispensaries 
within the city.

The Loveland Association for Wellness, or LAW, a recently developed 
group headed by members of the medical marijuana business community, 
met with two City Council members last week and decided to start 
developing rules for shops that could take effect sooner than Nov. 2, 
when Lovelanders will decide if they want the shops in town at all.

Councilwoman Cathleen McEwen said Tuesday that LAW group members she 
met were very willing to work with the council to create laws that 
would eliminate some of the less-favorable advertisements and 
decorations on some shops in town.

"They have a desire to stay in business, and I think that they 
realize that in order to do that, they have to treat it like a bona 
fide business," McEwen said.

Large images of marijuana leaves and references to getting high or 
stoned need to go, she said.

During a July 20 City Council meeting, many medical marijuana shop 
owners and proponents nodded their heads when council members 
mentioned creating some regulations for the businesses that would 
take effect quickly.

"What we're trying to do is address some of these needs in the 
immediate," McEwen said Tuesday morning.

Eric Aragon, who is helping organize the movement, said regulation 
proponents made their way around the city Tuesday, asking businesses 
with offensive or over-the-top signage to take it down.

LAW planned to meet this week to create a resolution that it will 
later present to the City Council.

Some of the LAW members McEwen and council member Joan Shaffer met 
with last week said they already had begun working to create and 
implement some regulations on shops.

Whatever ideas the group comes up with will most likely be made 
stricter after council looks over them, McEwen said.

"They're doing well without us having to get heavy-handed," McEwen 
said. "There seems to be some middle ground that we've reached."

McEwen said she thinks the current agreement and balance between the 
shops and the city will eliminate any concerns the public might have 
about the shops and their operations.

At her meeting with LAW members, McEwen brought a copy of Fort 
Collins' medical marijuana charter to help LAW draft some guidelines 
and have an idea of what kind of specificity would be needed in an 
agreement between the businesses and the city.
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