Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 Source: Delta County Independent (CO) Copyright: 2010 Delta County Independent Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5y9TXXEE Website: http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5139 Author: Patty Capen PAONIA'S RESOURCES LIMIT ABILITY TO REGULATE DISPENSARIES Dear Editor: The Paonia Town Council is in the midst of formulating a town ordinance for governing medical marijuana dispensaries (centers). Here are some thoughts. Our town has very limited resources. The administration of this ordinance will call on all of these resources: town council time and effort...town employees' energy and attention...and the use of our fragile infrastructure. To what extent will these limited resources be used to assure access to medical marijuana? That will depend on how broadly this ordinance is written. It is not this community's responsibility to establish regulations which would assure success for these centers. The dispensaries are a business and, like all other ventures, the risk of failure is theirs. Nor is it the community's responsibility to push the envelope on the legalization of marijuana...that battle has a different venue. With a population of approximately 1,500 folks, two centers are more than sufficient to meet the legitimate need for our community. Creating competition is not our concern. We have only one grocery store, one drug store, one theater, one cleaners, one flower shop. The original zoning designation (C1) is also ample. Extending zoning to C2 enlarges the area needed to be monitored and risks infringing on residential areas. We do not need to create problems for our neighbors. And we don't want to create conflict unnecessarily. We do not have the resources or expertise to monitor the production of medical marijuana. Marijuana is an agricultural crop...it has the potential to cause air, water and ground pollution. Commercial production calls for chemicals, energy and disposal. All of this could threaten our town's beauty, health and economic strength. Allowing production within the dispensary and within the city limits seems foolhardy. We need to be cognizant of our limitations. The state issued the sales tax licenses to current dispensaries without a by-your-leave. It took the state 10 years to put together regulations. Let's see if the state can/will administer the regulations before we depend on it for our well-being. The revenues from the sales tax should have very little weight in this discussion. The beauty and the advantage of living here should have first priority. Patty Capen Paonia - --- MAP posted-by: Matt