Pubdate: Sun, 06 Nov 2011
Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan (CO)
Copyright: 2011 The Fort Collins Coloradoan
Contact: http://www.coloradoan.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.coloradoan.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1580
Author: Kevin Duggan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

UNCERTAIN SHUTDOWN SCENARIO LOOMS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOPS

The decision by Fort Collins voters to ban medical marijuana 
businesses from the city could result in a strained three months for 
existing businesses and their customers.

The Larimer County Clerk's Office is expected to certify Tuesday's 
election results by Nov. 18. Once that occurs, the city's 20 medical 
marijuana businesses would have to shut down within 90 days.

The dispensaries are likely to stay open as long as they can, said 
Steve Acker-man, president of the Fort Collins Medical Cannabis 
Association and owner of the dispensary Organic Alternatives.

"We will keep operating and we will keep serving our patients," he 
said. "Our patients are coming in and they are all concerned about 
what's going to happen." How the shutdown will be conducted by the 
businesses and state and local officials is not yet known, he said.

Organic Alternatives, 346 E. Mountain Ave., is the designated 
caregiver for about 300 state-registered medical marijuana patients, 
Ackerman said. "Every one of them that has come in the last few days 
has said they really rely on us for their medicine," he said.

After the Fort Collins shops close, patients may travel to Boulder or 
Denver to visit dispensaries to get their marijuana. Two 
dis-pensaries that sit just outside city limits in unincor-porated 
Larimer County will continue to operate.

Another option for pa-tients is to designate care-givers to grow 
marijuana for them. Caregivers may grow in their homes. Ackerman said 
he is considering becoming a caregiver, as are other dispensary 
owners and employees.

Ackerman said he is not concerned about moving all of the products 
his store has by the time it is required to close. Dispensaries may 
sell limited amounts of mari-juana to each other.

Fort Collins officials have been meeting to discuss how to dismantle 
the city's dis-pensary model, said Capt. Jerry Schiager, interim police chief.

The city plans to contact other municipalities that have gone through 
the process of shutting down marijuana businesses and learn from 
their experiences, he said. City officials also plan to work with the 
state health department, which operates the registry of medical 
marijuana patients and caregivers, as well as the department of 
revenue and its Medical Marijuana En-forcement Division, or MMED, to 
ensure state regulations are met during the closure of local 
dispen-saries, Schiager said. "We are trying to figure out what the 
possibilities are for following this new model," he said.

State regulations allow patients or their designated caregivers to 
grow up to six medical marijuana plants.

City regulations allow up to 12 marijuana plants in a residence, six 
of which may be mature, regardless of how many patients live in the home.

Once a local authority issues a cease-and-desist order to a marijuana 
business, the dispensary may withdraw its state license application 
and move to another location where it would be allowed, said Julie 
Postlethwait, public information officer for MMED. A business may 
also let its license application lapse.

"After the 90 days are up, we will partner with local law enforcement 
to ensure that proper procedures are being followed," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom