Pubdate: Sun, 17 Oct 2010
Source: Summit Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Summit Daily News
Contact: http://apps.summitdaily.com/forms/letter/index.php
Website: http://www.summitdaily.com/home.php
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/587
Author: Jack Weinstein, Steamboat Pilot & Today
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?277 (Cannabis - Medicinal - Colorado)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

COLORADO TOWNS DEVISE THEIR OWN RULES FOR MARIJUANA

Steamboat Springs Has Three Dispensaries, While Neighboring Hayden 
Prohibits Them

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - Want a feel for the varied response to Colorado's 
booming medical marijuana industry? Just take a survey of how some 
Colorado mountain towns have reacted.

In Northwest Colorado, the city of Steamboat Springs allowed three 
medical marijuana centers to operate after creating an ordinance to 
regulate them. Two dozen miles west, the town of Hayden approved an 
ordinance prohibiting them.

In South Routt County, Oak Creek's Town Board passed a request for a 
medical marijuana center on to its planning commission, which allowed 
the business. Farther south, the town of Yampa surveyed its residents 
to figure out whether it should allow more marijuana centers after 
its first and only one closed.

Emotions ran high in Yampa last month when the town board convened to 
get community input on the subject.

Supporters cited the ability of medical marijuana centers to generate 
tax revenue for the town, while opponents pointed to the possibility 
of increased crime and the town's lack of law enforcement. Opponents 
also said anyone with a medical marijuana card could travel to Oak 
Creek, where the center Mary's operates.

The discussion was similar during Hayden Town Council meetings in 
May, July and August. More than 30 residents showed up at a May 
meeting in which the town council was asked to consider a request to 
amend Hayden's land-use code to allow medical marijuana centers. Some 
of those in attendance said marijuana cardholders could travel to 
Steamboat, just as other residents have to travel to Steamboat or 
Craig to pick up their prescriptions.

Ultimately, Hayden's Town Council did not allow medical marijuana businesses.

It wasn't a matter of whether they would generate sales-tax revenue 
and operate under the radar, as Steamboat officials said the city's 
centers have. Hayden residents and officials didn't seem interested 
from the beginning.

"It's been very adamant from the town; they don't want any type of 
(centers), cultivation, none of it," Hayden Mayor Lorraine Johnson 
said after the council voted unanimously Aug. 19 to prohibit the businesses.

A similar dichotomy exists between Breckenridge and Vail, two resort 
communities fewer than 40 miles apart.

Breckenridge has six medical marijuana centers. Vail has none after 
the town banned the businesses with a council resolution.

Vail Mayor Dick Cleveland said Vail's opposition was never a 
referendum on the efficacy of medical marijuana. Rather, he said the 
discussion was about whether the businesses would compromise the 
image of a family-friendly community that focuses on healthy 
lifestyles and participatory sports the town had worked so hard to create.

Cleveland said the council decided that Vail, a town of 80 percent 
second-home owners, didn't need medical marijuana businesses.

"I think we made the right decision," he said. "When I see ads in the 
paper advertising a free joint on your birthday, that just convinces 
me even more that wasn't the image we wanted to project."

Image also was a part of the discussion in Breckenridge, but it 
didn't derail allowing medical marijuana businesses in town.

Breckenridge Mayor John Warner said he voted for Amendment 20 in 
2000. He also said the Breckenridge Town Council approached medical 
marijuana centers favorably but cautiously. Before allowing the 
businesses to operate, the Town Council imposed a 90-day moratorium 
to draft rules.

At the same time, a citizens group led by a local attorney crafted a 
ballot initiative to legalize possession of as much as one ounce for 
adults 21 and older. The ballot initiative passed in November 2009 
with 71 percent of residents supporting it.

Warner said Breckenridge has received positive and negative feedback. 
But he doesn't think medical marijuana has changed the town.

"I don't think we are becoming this marijuana-centered community." 
Warner said. "I don't think we're changing in a huge way. I don't 
think the community has changed. I think we're evolving."

A similar evolution could be coming to Steamboat.

Steamboat City Council President Cari Hermacinski said after more 
than a year of medical marijuana centers operating here, she's heard 
nothing but positive comments. New state legislation is requiring the 
city to amend its medical marijuana ordinance, and the revision could 
result in the city allowing more than three centers, she said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake