One thing has become clear with the medical marijuana dispensary debate in Windsor is that as time goes by, the Windsor Town Board members become more and more divided among themselves.
Monday night, during a three-hour work session to discuss rules and regulations, tempers flared to a point never before shown by this board before.
And by the end of the meeting, not much more was decided except they agreed to disagree.
"Pharmacies have regulations," at-large member Michael Kelly said to Mayor John Vázquez. "This has zip, zero, none. You can't compare this to a pharmacy. (Dispensaries) were created because they found some stretch of a loophole in Amendment 20. If they want to do this then they need to follow the law to the letter."
Kelly's comments came after Town Attorney Ian McCargar raised an issue Windsor Police Chief John Michaels was concerned with, which has to do with possible on-site managers of dispensaries.
Michaels wants the board to make the regulation that only a patient's caregiver is able to exchange money with the patient for the medicinal marijuana.
While Kelly and at-large member Richard Drake agreed with Michaels, Vázquez and District No. 1 representative Jon Slater did not. Members Matthew O'Neill, Nancy Weber and Robert Bishop-Cotner were not present.
Vázquez's contention was that while a dispensary staff member may not be the caregiver, it should not mean they can not act as a cashier. He used the example of a pharmacy where someone tries to fill a prescription but the refills are out. The pharmacy calls the doctor, who agrees to refill the prescription without seeing the patient again. The pharmacist then fills the prescription, and when the patient shows up at the pharmacy, someone making minimum wage to operate the cash register delivers it and accepts his money.
"It looks like you are trying to make this as difficult as possible for the dispensary owners," Vázquez replied to Kelly.
McCargar then advised the board members that they really needed to start focusing on regulations that were proper for the industry.
"You can't protect everybody from all the evils," McCargar said. "You need to regulate what you should and start trusting others, such as the police, to take care of the rest."
Medical marijuana issues in Windsor
While the Windsor Town Board agreed Monday night on a few items, such as requiring Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers on dispensary applications for tax licenses, requiring copies of federal tax returns for any renewal applications, referring any new applications for comment to the school district, the parks and recreation department or anyone else the town manager deems appropriate, allowing the same entity to hold one sales tax license for each a retail and cultivation facility, requiring paraphernalia that is for sale to be out of sight of the general public and no sales on Sundays, there was much that was left open for further discussion.
Some of the regulations being proposed are:
- Requiring both commercial and non-commercial medical marijuana growers to have a locked vaulted room in their business or home that would store the marijuana when not in use.
- Disallowing someone who was at one time charged with a felony but eventually plead it down to a misdemeanor from holding a license.
- Limiting the sale of marijuana to 2 ounces per patient per week.
- Limiting the payment of marijuana to electronic payments only.
- Posting signs in the dispensaries that the marijuana has not undergone government testing and could cause serious health problems.
- Requiring food licenses for dispensaries that offer marijuana-based food products.
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Greeley Tribune
Author: Sherrie Peif
Contact: Greeley Colorado
Copyright: Swift Communications
Website:Windsor Town Board members agree to disagree on marijuana rules and regulations
Monday night, during a three-hour work session to discuss rules and regulations, tempers flared to a point never before shown by this board before.
And by the end of the meeting, not much more was decided except they agreed to disagree.
"Pharmacies have regulations," at-large member Michael Kelly said to Mayor John Vázquez. "This has zip, zero, none. You can't compare this to a pharmacy. (Dispensaries) were created because they found some stretch of a loophole in Amendment 20. If they want to do this then they need to follow the law to the letter."
Kelly's comments came after Town Attorney Ian McCargar raised an issue Windsor Police Chief John Michaels was concerned with, which has to do with possible on-site managers of dispensaries.
Michaels wants the board to make the regulation that only a patient's caregiver is able to exchange money with the patient for the medicinal marijuana.
While Kelly and at-large member Richard Drake agreed with Michaels, Vázquez and District No. 1 representative Jon Slater did not. Members Matthew O'Neill, Nancy Weber and Robert Bishop-Cotner were not present.
Vázquez's contention was that while a dispensary staff member may not be the caregiver, it should not mean they can not act as a cashier. He used the example of a pharmacy where someone tries to fill a prescription but the refills are out. The pharmacy calls the doctor, who agrees to refill the prescription without seeing the patient again. The pharmacist then fills the prescription, and when the patient shows up at the pharmacy, someone making minimum wage to operate the cash register delivers it and accepts his money.
"It looks like you are trying to make this as difficult as possible for the dispensary owners," Vázquez replied to Kelly.
McCargar then advised the board members that they really needed to start focusing on regulations that were proper for the industry.
"You can't protect everybody from all the evils," McCargar said. "You need to regulate what you should and start trusting others, such as the police, to take care of the rest."
Medical marijuana issues in Windsor
While the Windsor Town Board agreed Monday night on a few items, such as requiring Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers on dispensary applications for tax licenses, requiring copies of federal tax returns for any renewal applications, referring any new applications for comment to the school district, the parks and recreation department or anyone else the town manager deems appropriate, allowing the same entity to hold one sales tax license for each a retail and cultivation facility, requiring paraphernalia that is for sale to be out of sight of the general public and no sales on Sundays, there was much that was left open for further discussion.
Some of the regulations being proposed are:
- Requiring both commercial and non-commercial medical marijuana growers to have a locked vaulted room in their business or home that would store the marijuana when not in use.
- Disallowing someone who was at one time charged with a felony but eventually plead it down to a misdemeanor from holding a license.
- Limiting the sale of marijuana to 2 ounces per patient per week.
- Limiting the payment of marijuana to electronic payments only.
- Posting signs in the dispensaries that the marijuana has not undergone government testing and could cause serious health problems.
- Requiring food licenses for dispensaries that offer marijuana-based food products.
News Hawk- Weedpipe 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Greeley Tribune
Author: Sherrie Peif
Contact: Greeley Colorado
Copyright: Swift Communications
Website:Windsor Town Board members agree to disagree on marijuana rules and regulations
