Pubdate: Tue, 15 Oct 2013
Source: Aspen Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2013 Aspen Daily News
Contact: http://www.aspendailynews.com/submit-letter-editor
Website: http://www.aspendailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/635
Author: Chad Abraham

RETAIL MARIJUANA OUTLETS MOVE CLOSER TO REALITY IN VALLEY

People 21 and over in Aspen and Glenwood Springs seeking marijuana 
without a prescription are on track to be able to buy it at a retail 
outlet starting Jan. 1.

One cannabis-store operator said he has the requisite permits, and 
Aspen City Council today is poised to pass a new ordinance that will 
govern retail marijuana shops - there could be as many as eight in 
town by next year - much like liquor stores.

Council members discussed the proposed Ordinance 38 on Sept. 16, and 
assistant city attorney Debbie Quinn wrote in a recent memo that the 
law's final language is ready for review after a few minor changes.

Ron Radtke, owner of the Green Essentials medical-marijuana 
dispensary in Glenwood Springs, said Monday that he had just received 
the final paperwork from the Colorado Department of Revenue to offer 
the retail shopping experience to non-patients.

"It will be kind of like going to a liquor store," he said.

Radtke said the process of procuring a retail license for his store 
on 10th Street in Glenwood and for a new location at Mill Street and 
Hyman Avenue in Aspen was arduous.

An applicant must have both an exceptionally clean background and the 
financial means to post at least a $5,000 bond with the state, money 
that acts as a pledge to uphold the rules of the retail marijuana 
industry. Then there is the licensing requirements for the cities of 
Aspen and Glenwood, Pitkin and Garfield counties, and the state, Radtke said.

"The bottom line is: Take your time and do it correctly," he said. 
"You have to have the money to fund what is your responsibility.

"It's a major commitment."

According to Quinn's memo, there were three existing medical 
marijuana facilities operating within the city limits as of Oct. 1, 
each with a business license and presumably with a state medical 
marijuana license.

Since Oct. 1, there have been five additional medical marijuana 
facilities that have obtained a city business license.

"In any event, there could be as many as eight medical licensees who 
could apply for a retail license within the city," Quinn wrote. 
"These license applications could be either requests for conversion 
from medical to retail or for co-location, so the number of locations 
should not be greater than eight."

City staff checked with Colorado's marijuana enforcement division to 
determine which of the five newcomers have completed the state 
medical marijuana license application. Council is expected to get 
that number today.

Radtke applauded the cities of Aspen and Glenwood for taking their 
time organizing the new legal structure.

Aspen attorney Lauren Maytin, however, said the city of Aspen should 
reconsider a couple of aspects of its budding retail industry. She 
counts among her clients high-country entrepreneurs looking to start 
marijuana businesses.

As a board member of the Colorado chapter of the National 
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Maytin said she fully 
supported Amendment 64, the legalization measure state voters approved in 2012.

But she said she disagreed with Quinn's recommendation to council 
that it not allow private cannabis clubs. That could lead to tourists 
ending up in the emergency room because they're unaccustomed to the 
potency of edible, marijuana-infused products, Maytin said.

In her memo to council, Quinn wrote that there is "nothing in 
Amendment 64, the state codes or regulations that legalizes the 
leasing or use of property for a private or public club for marijuana 
consumption; there is no provision for licensing such a use."

Amendment 64 lists which acts involving the consumption of cannabis 
remain illegal, including using the substance "openly and publicly."

Maytin said that means anyone smoking marijuana in public in Aspen 
can be the subject of a $100 first-time fine under the municipal 
code. That, in turn, means fearful visitors might instead turn to 
infused edibles - snacks and sweets of which they have no experience 
that could lead to a trip to the emergency room.

Most tourists in the valley, when it comes to cannabis, use it in "a 
puff or two," Maytin said. Edibles are a whole other ball of wax, 
strong enough to put a naive visitor in the hospital.

"People recreating here, in a world-class tourist destination, we 
don't want them seeing the inside of an emergency room," she said.

A private cannabis club, however, would allow the casual cannabis 
consumer a more normalized experienced, Maytin said.

Quinn, though, said in her memo to council that the "conservative 
interpretation" of Amendment 64 means private or public marijuana 
clubs, "because they are not specifically authorized," are not legal.

"Staff recommends that council allow the prohibition of private or 
public clubs that is included" in the city's new law remain as 
drafted, Quinn wrote.

Maytin said she also took issue with the city limiting the number of 
retail shops to eight. No other industry - liquor stores and 
restaurants, for instance - is regulated in such a way, she argued.

Eight is an acceptable number for potential retail shops as Aspen 
transitions into regulating the industry, Quinn's memo says.

Today's council meeting begins at 5 p.m. and includes a public comment period.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom