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Beginning Monday, Dacono voters will decide the fate of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.
The choice comes to voters as Ballot Issue 2A, an attempt to lift the city's ban of medical marijuana dispensaries. Passed by the City Council in June and made effective in January, the ban closed the door on Dacono Meds, Mary Jane's Medicinal and Green Medicals.
Now Chris Bishop, one of the organizers of the Dacono ballot issue, wants them back.
"Since they closed, I've been to three different places in the area," said Bishop, a former Air Force nurse and paramedic who takes medical marijuana for multiple sclerosis. "Unfortunately, every single one of them didn't give the vibe of 'We're here for the medical patient.' More like 'Here's your stuff, give me $50.'"
"I want to be in a place that's clean, reliable, neat," Bishop said. "Somewhere where, if my wife has to go for me, I don't have to worry about her."
But last summer, Dacono councilmembers weren't sure they could guarantee that. At the time, city officials said they weren't getting enough support from the state on enforcing Colorado's medical marijuana regulations, and that it was too big a job for the city to handle alone.
"It's my opinion that the city of Dacono can't effectively and efficiently regulate this particular service," Mayor Charles Sigman said in June before the 4-2 vote that locked in the ban. "I don't think we'd be doing anyone any favors by trying."
Supporters of the ballot issue hope to make that job a little smaller. A "yes" vote would lift the ban, but would allow no more than three dispensaries in town. The ones that had already been in Dacono and closed Dec. 31 would have first crack at getting a new license.
The ballot issue also sets the standards that a dispensary would have to follow, including security regulations, limits on advertising, and a requirement to keep activities out of public view. The businesses would be inspected by the city.
Dacono first began regulating dispensaries in 2009, the only community in the "Tri-Towns" area of southwest Weld County to do so. A moratorium blocked new ones from coming to town in 2010, the same year the neighboring town governments of Frederick and Firestone voted to ban the businesses altogether.
When discussion of a Dacono ban arose, the issue divided the council. Councilman Steve Bruno asked for the issue to be decided by a citizens' referendum rather than a council vote; Councilman Kevin Plain said he hadn't wanted dispensaries in the first place, but couldn't close down an existing business that was following the law.
But other councilmembers argued that the dispensaries gave Dacono a poor image. During an April 2012 discussion, Councilman Joe Baker said he was tired of seeing the dispensaries and getting complaints about the "riffraff."
"What do you want to see when you drive into Dacono?" argued Baker, who voted for the ban. "What image, what direction, does Dacono want to be in?"
In those discussions, some residents argued that closing the dispensaries would narrow choices for patients in legitimate need, while others said that other communities had seen increases in crime and teen drug use, a pattern they didn't want to imitate.
For Bishop, it's an odd position to be in. Growing up in small-town Indiana, he said, he would have never dreamed of using marijuana for any reason. Even after his 2005 diagnosis of MS, he didn't try the substance until 2010, when it was down to a choice between marijuana or opiates.
"I'm not going to lie; it doesn't remove every trace of the pain," Bishop said. "But it does make it tolerable."
He said he weighed his options carefully before becoming a point man for the ballot issue, along with fellow medical-marijuana patient Ron Cannon. It meant making his use more public, but so far, he said, people have been pretty understanding and the issue is important to him.
"There's a lot of caution about it and I understand why," he said. "But at some point you have to say 'Are these responsible adults taking care of medical needs and are these places supporting it? Or is it just people having a good time?' These are people that are just trying to cope and make the day go by a little better than it would. I don't think that 's too much to ask."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: timescall.com
Author: Scott Rochat
Contact: Contact Us - Longmont Times-Call
Website: Dacono begins voting on medical marijuana dispensaries - Longmont Times-Call
The choice comes to voters as Ballot Issue 2A, an attempt to lift the city's ban of medical marijuana dispensaries. Passed by the City Council in June and made effective in January, the ban closed the door on Dacono Meds, Mary Jane's Medicinal and Green Medicals.
Now Chris Bishop, one of the organizers of the Dacono ballot issue, wants them back.
"Since they closed, I've been to three different places in the area," said Bishop, a former Air Force nurse and paramedic who takes medical marijuana for multiple sclerosis. "Unfortunately, every single one of them didn't give the vibe of 'We're here for the medical patient.' More like 'Here's your stuff, give me $50.'"
"I want to be in a place that's clean, reliable, neat," Bishop said. "Somewhere where, if my wife has to go for me, I don't have to worry about her."
But last summer, Dacono councilmembers weren't sure they could guarantee that. At the time, city officials said they weren't getting enough support from the state on enforcing Colorado's medical marijuana regulations, and that it was too big a job for the city to handle alone.
"It's my opinion that the city of Dacono can't effectively and efficiently regulate this particular service," Mayor Charles Sigman said in June before the 4-2 vote that locked in the ban. "I don't think we'd be doing anyone any favors by trying."
Supporters of the ballot issue hope to make that job a little smaller. A "yes" vote would lift the ban, but would allow no more than three dispensaries in town. The ones that had already been in Dacono and closed Dec. 31 would have first crack at getting a new license.
The ballot issue also sets the standards that a dispensary would have to follow, including security regulations, limits on advertising, and a requirement to keep activities out of public view. The businesses would be inspected by the city.
Dacono first began regulating dispensaries in 2009, the only community in the "Tri-Towns" area of southwest Weld County to do so. A moratorium blocked new ones from coming to town in 2010, the same year the neighboring town governments of Frederick and Firestone voted to ban the businesses altogether.
When discussion of a Dacono ban arose, the issue divided the council. Councilman Steve Bruno asked for the issue to be decided by a citizens' referendum rather than a council vote; Councilman Kevin Plain said he hadn't wanted dispensaries in the first place, but couldn't close down an existing business that was following the law.
But other councilmembers argued that the dispensaries gave Dacono a poor image. During an April 2012 discussion, Councilman Joe Baker said he was tired of seeing the dispensaries and getting complaints about the "riffraff."
"What do you want to see when you drive into Dacono?" argued Baker, who voted for the ban. "What image, what direction, does Dacono want to be in?"
In those discussions, some residents argued that closing the dispensaries would narrow choices for patients in legitimate need, while others said that other communities had seen increases in crime and teen drug use, a pattern they didn't want to imitate.
For Bishop, it's an odd position to be in. Growing up in small-town Indiana, he said, he would have never dreamed of using marijuana for any reason. Even after his 2005 diagnosis of MS, he didn't try the substance until 2010, when it was down to a choice between marijuana or opiates.
"I'm not going to lie; it doesn't remove every trace of the pain," Bishop said. "But it does make it tolerable."
He said he weighed his options carefully before becoming a point man for the ballot issue, along with fellow medical-marijuana patient Ron Cannon. It meant making his use more public, but so far, he said, people have been pretty understanding and the issue is important to him.
"There's a lot of caution about it and I understand why," he said. "But at some point you have to say 'Are these responsible adults taking care of medical needs and are these places supporting it? Or is it just people having a good time?' These are people that are just trying to cope and make the day go by a little better than it would. I don't think that 's too much to ask."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: timescall.com
Author: Scott Rochat
Contact: Contact Us - Longmont Times-Call
Website: Dacono begins voting on medical marijuana dispensaries - Longmont Times-Call
