Pubdate: Thu, 06 May 2010 Source: Telluride Daily Planet (CO) Copyright: 2010 Telluride Daily Planet, A Division of Womack Publishing Company Contact: http://www.telluridenews.com/forms/letters/ Website: http://www.telluridenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3881 Author: Kathrine Warren Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) COMMISSIONERS PLACE MORATORIUM ON DISPENSARIES County Land Use Code Needs Revisions Last week, San Miguel County commissioners placed a temporary moratorium on the licensing of medicinal cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas for up to six months. The board, somewhat reluctantly, chose to do so because the county has nothing in its land use code when it comes to businesses selling and dispensing medical marijuana. The county also placed the moratorium to track the progress of House Bill 10-1284 in Colorado Legislature that would outline how the state licenses dispensaries. "If HB 10-1284 passes, it would create a licensing process similar to that which regulates liquor licenses," said San Miguel County Planning Director Mike Rozycki in a press release. "The moratorium also gives us the time we need to see what our state laws are going to be." The Colorado Legislature is expected to pass HB 10-1284 sometime before this year's session ends on May 12. The bill has been amended and changed numerous times as it has bounced between the House and Senate. Once approved it will be sent to Governor Bill Ritter. "We want to know what it is and address it at a local level before there are a lot of dispensaries," Rozycki said in an interview Wednesday. The moratorium will be as long as six months, until Oct. 31, but could end sooner if legislation is signed into law and the county's planning department can draft land use code revisions once they have a clear understanding of what the house bill will require. "We don't want to see it go on any longer than is necessary," Rozycki said. "We're not trying to keep people from selling medical cannabis," County Commissioner Joan May said. "Since medical cannabis is not addressed in our code we have to figure out a way to address it." In the past year, towns and counties throughout Colorado have enacted temporary moratoriums on dispensaries as they have tried to update their land use codes after the Obama administration announced it wouldn't prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries operating within state laws. "San Miguel County didn't initially do this because we didn't have many areas where there would be potential for dispensaries," Rozycki said. "We have limited areas where we have retail sales." The Telluride town council placed a six-month moratorium in October 2009 to address the same issue and allow time to outline regulations of dispensaries in town. According to Rozycki, the county hasn't permitted any dispensaries yet, but he believes there are several getting ready to open. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom