Pubdate: Tue, 07 Sep 2010
Source: Aspen Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Aspen Daily News
Contact: http://www.aspendailynews.com/submit-letter-editor
Website: http://www.aspendailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/635
Author: Andrew Travers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?277 (Cannabis - Medicinal -  Colorado)

MARIJUANA FARMING RULES IN FLUX

Beginning last week, Colorado law mandated that medical marijuana 
dispensaries grow -- or have a plan to grow -- 70 percent of their 
own product, and Pitkin County officials are now evaluating how they 
ought to regulate the rural pot farms linked with local shops.

Five marijuana farms are zoned for agricultural use in Pitkin County, 
according to county community development director Lance Clarke. 
Growers statewide were required to report themselves to local 
jurisdictions by July 1, when state regulations went into effect, 
along with a moratorium on new pot operations.

Later this month, Clarke and county attorney John Ely are scheduled 
to meet with the Pitkin County commissioners to decide whether they 
want to set up specific county-written zoning rules for marijuana, or 
to proceed under state guidelines. They also have the option to ban 
them outright, as several counties have.

The commissioners have until July of next year to adopt their own 
rules. Otherwise they'll be bound by state regulations, which include 
provisions like criminal background checks for marijuana professionals.

"We want to see if the Board of County Commissioners has any 
questions about how we're currently dealing with dispensaries, grow 
operations and infused products from a zoning standpoint," Clarke 
said, "and whether they want any specifications."

"Infused products" include food and teas made with marijuana, and are 
currently allowed to be made only in the county's business zone, at 
the Aspen Airport Business Center. The county has fielded two 
applications from marijuana operations there, Clarke said, one of 
which has opened a shop.

The state's grow-your-own rule hasn't yet prompted any evident 
enforcement from the Department of Revenue, which oversees it.

Providers, meanwhile, are attempting to toe the line of medical 
marijuana laws that continue to change. On the prospect of Pitkin 
County possibly writing new regulations on growing, local industry 
insiders are trying to be patient, said Damien Horgan, co-owner of 
Aspen's Alternative Medical Solutions.

"We're taking a wait-and-see approach," he said.

Counties and municipalities around the state have taken a smattering 
of regulatory stances on medical marijuana since the industry began 
booming last year. Colorado voters approved medical use of the drug 
in 2000, but few shops opened until after U.S. Attorney General Eric 
Holder declared a hands-off policy on state-approved pot dispensaries 
in February 2009.

Five dispensaries have since opened for business in Aspen and Pitkin County.

Because of the drug's history as an illegally trafficked and grown 
commodity, concerns about the medical marijuana industry largely 
center on the criminal element it legitimizes, and other crimes that 
grow operations may attract, including theft.

Sheriff Bob Braudis said marijuana farms may be targeted because of 
the plants' value, but that his office has not fielded any reports of 
pot burglary or related crime.

"It has not posed any problems for Pitkin County," he said.

The influx of legal medical use of the drug has, he said, begun to 
affect illicit sale of marijuana locally, as black market dealers 
have been forced to drop prices below the going rate in dispensaries.

"The traditional market has been blown out of the water," Braudis said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom