The frantic barrel race that is the Colorado medical-marijuana industry's summer-long rush toward regulation rounds its second marker today, when dispensary owners must submit a licensing application to the state or close shop.
State Department of Revenue officials will be accepting applications until 5 p.m. today at their new medical-marijuana enforcement office at Mile High Greyhound Park in Commerce City.
"If there's a line of people out the door at 5 on Sunday, we're not going to close them out," said Matt Cook, the Revenue Department's senior director of enforcement.
That gives dispensary owners precious few hours left to complete the 30-some pages of application forms in time to meet the deadline – which, like the July 1 deadline to apply for a local dispensary license, has caused considerable heartburn throughout the business.
"Sheer terror grips the industry," medical-marijuana attorney Jeffrey Gard said, only half-joking.
The deadline is significant for two reasons. First, come Monday the state will finally have a tally of the number of dispensaries in operation. Previous estimates have placed the number at more than 1,000. But it is unclear whether that many will fill out the lengthy application – which requires applicants to reveal financial information, criminal history, educational background and other personal details – and pay the application fees, which range from $7,500 to $18,000.
Second, the deadline marks the biggest step yet to bring dispensaries under regulatory control. While precise rules for how dispensaries can operate are yet to be written and won't go into place until next July, Cook envisions requiring dispensaries to be equipped with networks of cameras, which would allow state agents to remotely track every single gram of marijuana from seed to sale.
Dispensaries have until Sept. 1 to prove they are growing 70 percent of their own cannabis.
Kathleen Chippi, who owns the One Brown Mouse dispensary in Nederland and serves about 2,000 patients, said Friday she's decided to shutter her dispensary rather than fill out the application, which she believes requires her to sign away too many rights.
"I don't feel like I'm giving up," Chippi said. "I feel like the state is taking my livelihood away from me."
Other dispensary owners have raced forward, trying to keep their eyes on the finish line.
"It's going to be good," said Nicholas Paul, an owner of the Walking Raven dispensary in Denver, "to get it over with."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Denver Post
Author: John Ingold
Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post
State Department of Revenue officials will be accepting applications until 5 p.m. today at their new medical-marijuana enforcement office at Mile High Greyhound Park in Commerce City.
"If there's a line of people out the door at 5 on Sunday, we're not going to close them out," said Matt Cook, the Revenue Department's senior director of enforcement.
That gives dispensary owners precious few hours left to complete the 30-some pages of application forms in time to meet the deadline – which, like the July 1 deadline to apply for a local dispensary license, has caused considerable heartburn throughout the business.
"Sheer terror grips the industry," medical-marijuana attorney Jeffrey Gard said, only half-joking.
The deadline is significant for two reasons. First, come Monday the state will finally have a tally of the number of dispensaries in operation. Previous estimates have placed the number at more than 1,000. But it is unclear whether that many will fill out the lengthy application – which requires applicants to reveal financial information, criminal history, educational background and other personal details – and pay the application fees, which range from $7,500 to $18,000.
Second, the deadline marks the biggest step yet to bring dispensaries under regulatory control. While precise rules for how dispensaries can operate are yet to be written and won't go into place until next July, Cook envisions requiring dispensaries to be equipped with networks of cameras, which would allow state agents to remotely track every single gram of marijuana from seed to sale.
Dispensaries have until Sept. 1 to prove they are growing 70 percent of their own cannabis.
Kathleen Chippi, who owns the One Brown Mouse dispensary in Nederland and serves about 2,000 patients, said Friday she's decided to shutter her dispensary rather than fill out the application, which she believes requires her to sign away too many rights.
"I don't feel like I'm giving up," Chippi said. "I feel like the state is taking my livelihood away from me."
Other dispensary owners have raced forward, trying to keep their eyes on the finish line.
"It's going to be good," said Nicholas Paul, an owner of the Walking Raven dispensary in Denver, "to get it over with."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Denver Post
Author: John Ingold
Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post
