|  |
 |
|
Where There's Smoke...Part One |
Bill Hudson | 8/27/10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Pagosa Springs Town Hall and the Ross Aragon Community Center sit on the edge of a marshy wetlands, at the far end of a half-finished street beside a wide, rarely used sidewalk, a couple of blocks from any other commercial or government buildings. It is, in other words, an attractive, well-used building surrounded by vacant land that may not ever be built upon in my lifetime.
Which is okay by me. We don’t like to see change happen too quickly here in Pagosa Springs. Especially change that might bring a bit of prosperity to our citizens.
Inside the Town Hall yesterday, the Town Council was making sure that economic growth wouldn’t happen too quickly here, when they passed, unanimously, the second reading of a moratorium on the only industry in Colorado that is experiencing substantial growth in the midst of our current disastrous economy: the medical marijuana industry.
 A few minutes after the Town Council voted to prohibit all commercial medical marijuana businesses within the Town limits, the Archuleta County commissioners convened a special meeting at the County Fairgrounds to address the very same question: the operations of commercial marijuana “centers”, growing operations, and product manufacturing businesses.
Remarkably enough perhaps, considering the unanimous vote that had taken place just minutes earlier in Town Hall, two of the three County commissioners voted to allow — and to license — medical marijuana centers and manufacturing businesses within commercial and industrial zoning areas of the unincorporated county. The new County ordinance, which will receive its necessary second reading in late September before becoming law, does not permit commercial marijuana growing operations.
The County’s new ordinance will also repeal Archuleta County’s current moratorium on medical marijuana industry operations. That moratorium was temporarily renewed at yesterday's meeting, to serve until the second reading of the new ordinance.
You can click here to download the new 12-page County ordinance as a PDF file.
I’ve been writing about the rapid growth of Colorado’s marijuana industry — and the reaction to that new industry by our local politicians — for about 18 months. I’ve attended numerous hearings and seen numerous brave souls step up to the microphone and share their stories and concerns about our local government attempts to control an industry that, up until 18 months ago, flourished completely underground.
As I recall, only a couple of those testimonies have questioned the ultimate wisdom of bringing this underground industry out into the light of day. One such testimony was delivered to the County commissioners at their afternoon meeting yesterday, by Archuleta County Sheriff Pete Gonzalez. I hope to discuss Mr. Gonzalez’ comments more fully in Part Two.
To understand the curious and conflicted behavior of our local politicians, it helps to understand the changes that have taken place in Denver, where state legislators have been reacting to decade-old Amendment 20 — a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2000 that guarantees Colorado citizens the right to obtain and use marijuana for the treatment of certain medical conditions — in combination with a decision by the Obama administration not to enforce federal marijuana laws against users or distributors, in states that allow the use of medical marijuana.
(I’m actually not sure if the enforcement of the federal laws has been discontinued also in states where all marijuana use is still illegal.)
This past spring, the state legislature clarified a distinction between a “caregiver” and a “commercial medical marijuana business.” According to state law, anyone with a medical condition that qualifies them for a “medical marijuana card” can obtain marijuana plants and products from a private individual whom they have chosen as their “caregiver.” The new state law, as I understand it, does not allow local municipalities or counties to restrict or control the relationship between a “caregiver” and his patient.
A “caregiver” may petition to care for up to 16 patients, and may grow up to 6 plants per patient. You might view this type of patient-caregiver relationship as being similar to a person hiring a personal gardener to care for his yard.
However, over the past 18 months, numerous large-scale marijuana operations have sprung up all around the state, to sell and distribute medical marijuana in a very commercial manner emulating the way a “neighborhood drug store" is allowed to sell pharmaceutical drugs to any person with a doctor’s prescription. These large medical marijuana companies went by the designation “Dispensaries” up until the time the new state law was passed. They are now defined as three different types of commercial businesses.
One type of allowed businesses is the “marijuana center” which might be compared to a pharmacy or drug store. Another type is a “medical marijuana infused-products manufacturer” which produces edible or lotion forms of medical marijuana, probably to be sold through a “marijuana center.” The third type of marijuana business is a “growing operation” that supplies raw materials to “centers” and “infused-products manufacturers.”
Towns and counties are allowed, under the new state law, to regulate and license these larger, more impersonal marijuana businesses. In the case of the new Archuleta County ordinance, Ordinance No. 10-2010, the County will allow “medical marijuana centers” and “medical marijuana infused-products manufacturers” to operate in the county, in areas zoned “C” (commercial) or “I” (industrial.) Commercial growing operation will not be allowed in Archuleta County.
(Which means, in essence, that these growing operations will continue to operate “under the radar” — and untaxed — as they have for the past decade.)
The new ordinance contains some specific rules for commercial medical marijuana operations, including a stipulation that the business sign may not contain the word “Marijuana” or any other words believed to refer to marijuana. (Imagine, if you will, a law that prohibits a drug store from using the words “pharmacy” or “drug” on its signage.) A person who has been convicted of, or who has plead guilty to, certain crimes is prohibited from owning or operating a commercial medical marijuana business — as is a person who has been denied an application for a liquor license.
At the County commissioners hearing yesterday, Sheriff Pete Gonzalez was the first person to testify — and the only person to urge the commissioners to continue prohibiting the operation of commercial marijuana businesses.
Gonzalez based his arguments on the idea that marijuana is a “gateway drug.”
That is an argument I have not heard since — when? 1968?
Read Part Two, tomorrow... |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|