Pubdate: Tue, 09 Jul 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Authors: John Ingold and Jeremy P. Meyer
Page: 4A

STATE'S POT REGULATOR RETIRING

Director of Marijuana Enforcement Division Leaves As Recreational
Industry Emerges

The director of the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division is
retiring, at a time when the embattled division is taking on the task
of regulating the state's new recreational marijuana industry.

Laura Harris will retire effective Aug. 1, a spokeswoman for the
Department of Revenue, which oversees the division, confirmed Monday.

"After 30 years of state service, Laura Harris has decided to retire
in August and enjoy life," Daria Serna, the spokeswoman, wrote in an
email to The Denver Post. Harris referred a request for comment to
Serna. Harris was named director of what was then called the Medical
Marijuana Enforcement Division in late 2011 and put in charge of
regulating hundreds of medical-marijuana dispensaries and other
businesses. The division was renamed the Marijuana Enforcement
Division this year to reflect its expanded role overseeing all
marijuana businesses, which voters approved in November.

Harris' departure comes at a time of upheaval and evolution in the
division.

In March, a scathing audit found the division rife with wasteful
spending and incomplete enforcement. Revenue Department director
Barbara Brohl has defended her department by saying the problems
occurred years ago and that Harris, who previously oversaw tobacco and
liquor enforcement for the state, was brought in to clean up the division.

"We have control over this division at this point and will continue to
have control," Brohl told a legislative committee earlier this year.

Serna said Harris played a key role in tightening medical-marijuana
regulations and in preparing the division to handle oversight of the
forthcoming recreational marijuana industry.

"The Department appreciates her dedication and commitment to the state
of Colorado," Serna wrote in the e-mail. "In addition, we thank her
for leading us to this point with both medical marijuana and retail
marijuana."

But an e-mail that Harris sent lastweek to leaders of a marijuana
business group hints at continued tension within the division. In the
e-mail, which The Post obtained, Harris wrote that she planned to stay
at the division until mid-2014- after recreational marijuana stores
had opened and the state enforcement of them was up and running. "But
I found that the personal toll of this job was too much,"
Harriswrote."Moreover, I found that I was becoming ineffective with my
colleagues at those times when it was necessary to address areas of
disagreement."

On July 1, the division issued temporary rules governing recreational
marijuana stores. Those rules, though, are to be rewritten and
finalized by November. A number of key parts of the rules remain unwritten.

Serna said Harris decided now was the right time to
retire.

"This will allow the division to bring someone in at the beginning of
the next phase of the process," Serna wrote in her e-mail.

The Department of Revenue will begin looking for Harris' replacement
soon, Serna said. Until then, Department of Revenue enforcement
official Ron Kammerzell and Marijuana Enforcement Division
investigations director Lewis Koski will handle the division's
day-to-day responsibilities, Serna said.

In a statement, the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, a trade
association for marijuana businesses in Colorado, thanked Harris for
her work.

"We appreciate her leadership and her commitment to create a strong
regulatory system," Mike Elliott, the group's executive director,
wrote in a statement.
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MAP posted-by: Matt