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Colorado - Nearly all of Boulder's existing medical marijuana businesses will be able to convert to retail operations in their current locations, even if those locations wouldn't meet new city rules for recreational marijuana shops. They also likely will have the option to run medical and recreational pot businesses in the same location, an option that won't be afforded to new businesses.
The Boulder City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow dispensaries that comply with current law to convert in their current locations. The one exception is a single dispensary in a mixed-use building that includes residential. The City Council debated various aspects of the recreational marijuana ordinance late into the evening. A majority of council members supported lifting the 1,000 plant limit that had been proposed, allowing so-called "co-location" for existing businesses and expediting the processing of conversions, provided the recreational marijuana business has the same owners and financial backers as the existing medical dispensary.
The entire package will come back for another public hearing and a third vote next Tuesday, Oct. 29. Medical marijuana can be sold to patients 18 and older who have a doctor's recommendation. Patients can have up to 2 ounces at a time. Regular sales tax applies to medical marijuana, but new, higher sales and excise taxes on the ballot this November would not.
Recreational marijuana can be sold to customers 21 and older, and those customers are limited to 1 ounce. Recreational marijuana would be taxed at the higher rate if voters approve the state and local tax measures. Boulder officials had raised the possibility of not allowing conversions that don't meet new requirements, which would have meant dispensaries would have to remain as medical businesses or move. They also had concerns about enforcing the different requirements if medical and retail sales could be made in the same shop.
But more than two dozen business owners, customers and industry representatives told the City Council that businesses that have followed the city's strict rules should be allowed to take advantage of the new business opportunity represented by Amendment 64. City Council members said they heard those concerns.
"The intention is not to put existing businesses out of business," Councilman Macon Cowles said. "The medical marijuana businesses that have survived to this point have done a good job. I think it would be very unfair to adopt a regulatory scheme that forces a Hobbesian choice between converting or leaving a business they've grown and improved."
New recreational pot shops will not be able to locate within 1,000 feet of schools, daycare centers and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. Grow operations and infused product manufacturers, which are not open to customers, cannot be within 500 feet. The staff proposal had included a 1,000 plant limit for grow operations. Operators said the limit was arbitrary and doesn't affect the amount of finished product that they could produce, which depends on the skill of the grower and the growing conditions.
City officials said only four medical businesses have more than 1,000 plants, and keeping track of more than 1,000 plants would be hard for inspectors. Medical grows are limited by the number of patients associated with the dispensary. Boulder City Council members voted 6-3 to do away with the 1,000 plant limit but engaged in a lengthy debate about what would be the appropriate limit or whether a different measure, such as square footage, would be the better way to cap the size of marijuana grows. Council members Ken Wilson, Suzy Ageton and Tim Plass voted no, or to keep the 1,000 plant limit.
Business owners and industry representatives said Boulder should allow co-location so that they don't have to choose between retail and medical customers. "This will leave existing medical centers to choose one model or another, limiting their growth potential and creating an unmet demand that will be filled with product coming in from Denver," said Roseleena Pantius of the Dandelion dispensary.
Brooks Lustig of Southwest Alternative Care said businesses could manage the different regulations, just as King Soopers can maintain a law-abiding pharmacy inside a grocery store open to the general public. Several council members expressed concerns about co-location greatly increasing the impact of marijuana businesses on their neighbors.
Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum proposed allowing the 25 existing medical dispensaries to run dual businesses, with a shared lobby where IDs could be checked and then separate entrances to the medical and retail sides of the business. That proposal was supported by most council members, though they did not hold a formal vote. Appelbaum said new entrants into the marijuana marketplace would have the advantage of knowing all the pros and cons and the regulatory landscape and could make an informed choice between one or the other business model.
The City Council also supported not accepting new medical marijuana license applications and directed city staff to prioritize the processing of conversion requests from medical businesses that are currently in operation, provided they have the same ownership structure and do not require new background checks. They said their goal is to issue retail marijuana business licenses as soon as practically feasible in 2014.
News Hawk - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Dailycamera.com
Author: Erica Meltzer
Contact: Contact Us - Boulder Daily Camera
Website: Boulder grandfathers in existing pot shops - Boulder Daily Camera
The Boulder City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow dispensaries that comply with current law to convert in their current locations. The one exception is a single dispensary in a mixed-use building that includes residential. The City Council debated various aspects of the recreational marijuana ordinance late into the evening. A majority of council members supported lifting the 1,000 plant limit that had been proposed, allowing so-called "co-location" for existing businesses and expediting the processing of conversions, provided the recreational marijuana business has the same owners and financial backers as the existing medical dispensary.
The entire package will come back for another public hearing and a third vote next Tuesday, Oct. 29. Medical marijuana can be sold to patients 18 and older who have a doctor's recommendation. Patients can have up to 2 ounces at a time. Regular sales tax applies to medical marijuana, but new, higher sales and excise taxes on the ballot this November would not.
Recreational marijuana can be sold to customers 21 and older, and those customers are limited to 1 ounce. Recreational marijuana would be taxed at the higher rate if voters approve the state and local tax measures. Boulder officials had raised the possibility of not allowing conversions that don't meet new requirements, which would have meant dispensaries would have to remain as medical businesses or move. They also had concerns about enforcing the different requirements if medical and retail sales could be made in the same shop.
But more than two dozen business owners, customers and industry representatives told the City Council that businesses that have followed the city's strict rules should be allowed to take advantage of the new business opportunity represented by Amendment 64. City Council members said they heard those concerns.
"The intention is not to put existing businesses out of business," Councilman Macon Cowles said. "The medical marijuana businesses that have survived to this point have done a good job. I think it would be very unfair to adopt a regulatory scheme that forces a Hobbesian choice between converting or leaving a business they've grown and improved."
New recreational pot shops will not be able to locate within 1,000 feet of schools, daycare centers and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. Grow operations and infused product manufacturers, which are not open to customers, cannot be within 500 feet. The staff proposal had included a 1,000 plant limit for grow operations. Operators said the limit was arbitrary and doesn't affect the amount of finished product that they could produce, which depends on the skill of the grower and the growing conditions.
City officials said only four medical businesses have more than 1,000 plants, and keeping track of more than 1,000 plants would be hard for inspectors. Medical grows are limited by the number of patients associated with the dispensary. Boulder City Council members voted 6-3 to do away with the 1,000 plant limit but engaged in a lengthy debate about what would be the appropriate limit or whether a different measure, such as square footage, would be the better way to cap the size of marijuana grows. Council members Ken Wilson, Suzy Ageton and Tim Plass voted no, or to keep the 1,000 plant limit.
Business owners and industry representatives said Boulder should allow co-location so that they don't have to choose between retail and medical customers. "This will leave existing medical centers to choose one model or another, limiting their growth potential and creating an unmet demand that will be filled with product coming in from Denver," said Roseleena Pantius of the Dandelion dispensary.
Brooks Lustig of Southwest Alternative Care said businesses could manage the different regulations, just as King Soopers can maintain a law-abiding pharmacy inside a grocery store open to the general public. Several council members expressed concerns about co-location greatly increasing the impact of marijuana businesses on their neighbors.
Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum proposed allowing the 25 existing medical dispensaries to run dual businesses, with a shared lobby where IDs could be checked and then separate entrances to the medical and retail sides of the business. That proposal was supported by most council members, though they did not hold a formal vote. Appelbaum said new entrants into the marijuana marketplace would have the advantage of knowing all the pros and cons and the regulatory landscape and could make an informed choice between one or the other business model.
The City Council also supported not accepting new medical marijuana license applications and directed city staff to prioritize the processing of conversion requests from medical businesses that are currently in operation, provided they have the same ownership structure and do not require new background checks. They said their goal is to issue retail marijuana business licenses as soon as practically feasible in 2014.
News Hawk - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Dailycamera.com
Author: Erica Meltzer
Contact: Contact Us - Boulder Daily Camera
Website: Boulder grandfathers in existing pot shops - Boulder Daily Camera
