The Windsor Town Board appears ready to vote on regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries.
At its Monday work session, the board haggled over a couple of items that dispensary owners believe limited their ability to stay in compliance with the state regulations Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday.
Under state law, dispensary owners must grow 70 percent of their product. In Windsor, the original ordinance said grow facilities must be 1,000 feet from certain types of facilities, such as schools and public parks. But dispensary owners said the way the distance is measured leaves no place for them to locate.
"If you go property line to property line the way the crow flies, it knocks out all existing buildings," In Harmony Wellness co-owner Derek Cumings said. "I don't think that's appropriate because my patients don't fly."
Board members were divided over dropping the language that used the direct line measurement. They then debated whether to change the distance to 500 feet or table the issue for a future work session when they could obtain maps with the new locations.
But Cumings explained that he must have a plan in place by July 1 or face criminal prosecution.
"We need to decide if this is an unreasonable burden that we've put on the industry," Mayor John Vázquez said, and Town Attorney Ian McCargar agreed.
"We've set them up to fail because the state says they have to set up to grow pretty quickly," McCargar said.
Vázquez, Robert Bishop-Cotner and Jon Slater supported a 500-foot limit, which was written into the ordinance. Kristie Melendez and Mike Carrigan said they would support the wishes of the board but didn't really like reducing the distance. Representatives Matthew O'Neill and Don Thompson were absent.
Vázquez, Bishop-Cotner and Slater said they supported 500 feet because they ordinance only requires dispensaries to be 500 feet from a residence.
"If we're going to allow dispensaries that have signs and people know are dispensaries within 500 of a home, it seems a little silly to say a private grow house that is not open to the public or advertised needs to be 1,000 feet from a park," Vázquez said.
The board also agreed to put a question before the voters in November that will ask for an excise tax on medical marijuana purchases. The amount has not been determined.
"You're labeling this as a recreational poison like alcohol and tobacco by essentially charging a sin tax," Cumings said. "It is not."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Greeley Tribune
Author: Sherrie Peif
Copyright: 2010 Swift Communications, Inc.
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
At its Monday work session, the board haggled over a couple of items that dispensary owners believe limited their ability to stay in compliance with the state regulations Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday.
Under state law, dispensary owners must grow 70 percent of their product. In Windsor, the original ordinance said grow facilities must be 1,000 feet from certain types of facilities, such as schools and public parks. But dispensary owners said the way the distance is measured leaves no place for them to locate.
"If you go property line to property line the way the crow flies, it knocks out all existing buildings," In Harmony Wellness co-owner Derek Cumings said. "I don't think that's appropriate because my patients don't fly."
Board members were divided over dropping the language that used the direct line measurement. They then debated whether to change the distance to 500 feet or table the issue for a future work session when they could obtain maps with the new locations.
But Cumings explained that he must have a plan in place by July 1 or face criminal prosecution.
"We need to decide if this is an unreasonable burden that we've put on the industry," Mayor John Vázquez said, and Town Attorney Ian McCargar agreed.
"We've set them up to fail because the state says they have to set up to grow pretty quickly," McCargar said.
Vázquez, Robert Bishop-Cotner and Jon Slater supported a 500-foot limit, which was written into the ordinance. Kristie Melendez and Mike Carrigan said they would support the wishes of the board but didn't really like reducing the distance. Representatives Matthew O'Neill and Don Thompson were absent.
Vázquez, Bishop-Cotner and Slater said they supported 500 feet because they ordinance only requires dispensaries to be 500 feet from a residence.
"If we're going to allow dispensaries that have signs and people know are dispensaries within 500 of a home, it seems a little silly to say a private grow house that is not open to the public or advertised needs to be 1,000 feet from a park," Vázquez said.
The board also agreed to put a question before the voters in November that will ask for an excise tax on medical marijuana purchases. The amount has not been determined.
"You're labeling this as a recreational poison like alcohol and tobacco by essentially charging a sin tax," Cumings said. "It is not."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Greeley Tribune
Author: Sherrie Peif
Copyright: 2010 Swift Communications, Inc.
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
