The medical marijuana industry has taken root in Colorado Springs.
The city registered 451 medical marijuana businesses before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline, including 176 dispensaries, more than city officials had anticipated.
"That's amazing," Mayor Lionel Rivera said.
"First, I'm surprised at the number of businesses that applied," he said. "I knew we had a pretty good core, but that's certainly more than I expected based on the reports I've seen from the Police Department and the sales tax office."
But Rivera predicts the number will shrink over time because of market forces.
"There will be survivors, and there will be people that fall by the wayside," he said.
All the registrations, including 204 for grow operations and 71 for medical marijuana-infused products, filled city coffers to the tune of $225,500.
The city could see even more revenue from the industry in the future.
In addition to sales taxes, Rivera wants to charge all medical marijuana businesses a $5,000 "first-time fee" and $2,000 a year after that for renewals.
"That's what I'm going to advocate for," the mayor said.
Medical marijuana businesses had until Wednesday to register with the city under new state regulations. Businesses that failed to register on time will have to close their doors.
"Existing businesses had to certify the purchase or rental of a business space, a sales tax license and the timely remittance of sales tax," the city said in a statement.
Under the new state regulations, both the city and the state have a year to develop licensing systems for the industry, the city said.
Colorado Springs Councilman Sean Paige, who is leading a local medical marijuana task force, said the city is still working on two ordinances, one that deals with business licensing and the other with land-use regulations, such as buffer zones.
"I would assume that the business licensing (ordinance) could move rather quickly," he said. "Of course, the land-use one will be more contentious and take a lot longer because we obviously want citizen input into that process...I hope we'll move quickly."
Like Rivera, Paige predicts the number of medical marijuana businesses will decrease.
"That number seems large, but I think a year from now, a lot of those businesses will go out of existence because of either market competition or the regulatory climate that's being created" under the new state legislation, Paige said.
"We'll see a much different landscape than we see now," he added. "Those numbers may alarm some people, but we're in a boom phase, and there will be a bust that will follow."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Colorado Springs Gazette
Author: DANIEL CHACÓN
Contact: Colorado Springs Gazette
Copyright: 2010 Freedom Communications
Website: Springs registers 451 medical marijuana businesses
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
The city registered 451 medical marijuana businesses before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline, including 176 dispensaries, more than city officials had anticipated.
"That's amazing," Mayor Lionel Rivera said.
"First, I'm surprised at the number of businesses that applied," he said. "I knew we had a pretty good core, but that's certainly more than I expected based on the reports I've seen from the Police Department and the sales tax office."
But Rivera predicts the number will shrink over time because of market forces.
"There will be survivors, and there will be people that fall by the wayside," he said.
All the registrations, including 204 for grow operations and 71 for medical marijuana-infused products, filled city coffers to the tune of $225,500.
The city could see even more revenue from the industry in the future.
In addition to sales taxes, Rivera wants to charge all medical marijuana businesses a $5,000 "first-time fee" and $2,000 a year after that for renewals.
"That's what I'm going to advocate for," the mayor said.
Medical marijuana businesses had until Wednesday to register with the city under new state regulations. Businesses that failed to register on time will have to close their doors.
"Existing businesses had to certify the purchase or rental of a business space, a sales tax license and the timely remittance of sales tax," the city said in a statement.
Under the new state regulations, both the city and the state have a year to develop licensing systems for the industry, the city said.
Colorado Springs Councilman Sean Paige, who is leading a local medical marijuana task force, said the city is still working on two ordinances, one that deals with business licensing and the other with land-use regulations, such as buffer zones.
"I would assume that the business licensing (ordinance) could move rather quickly," he said. "Of course, the land-use one will be more contentious and take a lot longer because we obviously want citizen input into that process...I hope we'll move quickly."
Like Rivera, Paige predicts the number of medical marijuana businesses will decrease.
"That number seems large, but I think a year from now, a lot of those businesses will go out of existence because of either market competition or the regulatory climate that's being created" under the new state legislation, Paige said.
"We'll see a much different landscape than we see now," he added. "Those numbers may alarm some people, but we're in a boom phase, and there will be a bust that will follow."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Colorado Springs Gazette
Author: DANIEL CHACÓN
Contact: Colorado Springs Gazette
Copyright: 2010 Freedom Communications
Website: Springs registers 451 medical marijuana businesses
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
