Pubdate: Mon, 22 Nov 2010
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: John Aguilar
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

ERIE CONSIDERS SNUFFING OUT MEDICAL-POT DISPENSARIES

Trustees Take Up Prohibition Ordinance Tuesday Night

Erie could soon join Superior, Broomfield and Jamestown in quashing 
medical marijuana dispensaries and banning pot-growing operations in town.

Tuesday night, the Board of Trustees will vote on a first reading of 
an ordinance that would ban dispensaries, commercial cultivation and 
facilities that manufacture medical marijuana-infused products. The 
ordinance would have to be approved on a second reading next month 
before being enacted.

Trustee Colin Towner said there are still private caregivers in Erie 
and plenty of dispensaries in nearby towns where residents can get 
medical pot if they want it.

"People have access to this medication through other channels -- why 
do you have to have a storefront?" he asked. "It's just not time for 
Erie right now."

Towner said he worries about the additional security concerns that 
dispensaries would generate.

"It's a lot of policing and regulatory effort that we're not willing 
to take on," he said.

Erie has no medical marijuana dispensaries, and there are no 
applications before the town to open one, according to town spokesman 
Fred Diehl. The town put in place a moratorium that lasts until July 
1 prohibiting any new businesses of that type from setting up shop.

The proposed ban grew out of a board retreat held earlier this month, 
when the trustees discussed how to deal with the state's new medical pot laws.

In 2000, Colorado voters approved the use of medical marijuana for 
the treatment of certain ailments. The General Assembly passed 
legislation earlier this year that allows municipalities in Colorado 
to outlaw retail dispensaries -- either through a vote of the elected 
leaders or a vote of the residents -- or to pass their own strict set 
of zoning and operational regulations for the businesses.

Superior's Board of Trustees decided this past summer to prohibit 
dispensaries, while voters in Jamestown and Broomfield approved bans on Nov. 2.

The advantage to a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, said Erie 
Mayor Joe Wilson, is that it buys the town some time to observe how 
other municipalities handle the incendiary issue without getting 
mired in litigation and court battles.

"It's a safe haven -- while the rest of the medical marijuana world 
works out its problems," the mayor said. "It lets us stand on the 
sidelines so that we can see it unfold at no expense to us."

He also said there is a feeling on the board that marijuana is a 
gateway drug -- potentially leading to the use of harder drugs -- and 
that the town doesn't want to be seen as encouraging that.

Wilson said the trustees recognized that Erie would be giving up 
certain sales tax revenues by disallowing dispensaries, but he said 
it wasn't easy to tell if that money would be wiped out by the costs 
of providing security and drafting regulations for dispensaries.

If Erie approves a ban, the closest medical marijuana dispensary for 
most residents would be Lafayette's 420 HighWays in Old Town. Owner 
Veronica Carpio said one-quarter of her business already comes from 
Erie and that she stands to gain from a prohibition in the neighboring town.

"From a business standpoint, it's great -- it's less competition for 
me," she said.

But Carpio also wondered why a town would turn down the opportunity 
to bring in much-needed revenue. She said she pays a minimum of $700 
a month to Lafayette in sales taxes.

"We're in a broke economy -- people aren't building, people are still 
losing their homes," she said. "It would be nice for the town of Erie 
to get some income from dispensaries and grow operations."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom