Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2012
Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO)
Copyright: 2012 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.gjsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084
Author: Duffy Hayes

COUNTY STUDIES WHETHER TO BAN MARIJUANA SHOPS

In the wake of the recent passage of Colorado Amendment 64, Mesa 
County seems set on a path to ban outright marijuana retail stores 
and facilities in unincorporated parts of the county.

Commissioner Steve Acquafresca, who is the lone current commissioner 
set to serve next year's term, as Commissioners Craig Meis and Janet 
Rowland are term-limited at the end of this year, said he foresees 
the county pursuing a ban of marijuana retail facilities sometime soon.

Acquafresca said he's had a number of conversations on the subject, 
specifically with staff of the local district attorney's office, 
since the amendment's passage earlier this month. The amendment 
essentially legalized smaller amounts of marijuana for recreational 
use and paved the way for state-regulated retail pot shops.

Specific language in the amendment allows for "local governments to 
regulate or prohibit such facilities."

Mesa County, whose voters passed a ban on medical marijuana 
dispensaries in 2010, 50 percent to 47 percent, appears ready to take 
the "prohibit" route, via county ordinance.

Acquafresca said he recognizes that Coloradans now have limited 
rights to use and grow marijuana, but the interpretation by the 
district attorney's office says the amendment is clear in allowing 
municipal governments to be proactive.

"There's really no need for an expensive vote" put to the people, 
Acquafresca said.

The Board of County Commissioners will have two new members in 
January; Republicans John Justman and Rose Pugliese will join 
Acquafresca on the three-member board. The new board is expected to 
take up the proposed ordinance banning retail marijuana operations 
across unincorporated parts of the county.

Justman said he is likely to side with Acquafresca and support the 
idea of a ban.

"I'm not really interested in having pot shops in Mesa County," Justman said.

Pugliese said she is "all for a prohibition" and that she's on board 
with pursuing an ordinance that would make that a reality in Mesa County.

"The people of Mesa County have spoken, again and again, on the pot 
issue. They don't want pot shops on every corner," she said, noting 
the exception of the town of Palisade, who decided to allow medical 
marijuana dispensaries in a 2011 ballot measure.

One is currently operating there.

Local governments across the state are still sorting through their 
options since the amendment's passage.

For many, 2009 is still fresh in their memory, when medical marijuana 
dispensaries started popping up in Colorado communities with little 
to no regulatory framework in place to manage them,

"It's a little different this time around," said Kevin Bommer, deputy 
director with the Colorado Municipal League, an organization that 
represents 99 percent of the municipal population in the state.

Bommer said communities aren't being compelled to rush headlong into 
creating local regulatory legislation or bans via ordinance.

The amendment sets July 1, 2013, as a deadline for the state to have 
a regulatory structure in place, and licenses for retail marijuana 
applications can't be applied for until Oct. 1, 2013.

"What we've advised our folks is, because of those timelines, you 
don't have to rush and pass a moratorium. No one's going to legally 
open up a business here in the next few months," Bommer said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom