Pubdate: Sun, 28 Dec 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Authors: Jon Murray and John Aguilar

COLORADO CITIES AND TOWNS TAKE DIVERGING PATHS ON RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA

A year ago, as Colorado cities and towns were preparing for the first 
recreational marijuana stores to open, most were optimistic they were 
prepared. Still, many officials held their breath.

Local government leaders from Denver to smaller cities and rural 
hamlets say the pivotal first-year rollout went smoothly, and in some 
cases it has proved quite profitable for local coffers.

"To be able to pull that off in that short amount of time, and to one 
year later have a pretty good understanding of what the rules of the 
road are, it's a pretty monumental achievement," Kevin Bommer said. 
As deputy director of the Colorado Municipal League, he has tracked 
the experiences of cities and towns across the state.

Still, while 53 of them have chosen to permit retail marijuana - with 
27 levying special taxes - more did not. The group counts 165 cities 
and towns that decided against taking the leap. An additional 16 
municipalities have moratoriums on the idea of legalized recreational 
marijuana.

And looking at unincorporated areas, 23 of Colorado's 64 counties 
have opted to allow retail marijuana sales or cultivation or both.

"I think the local option is one of the best aspects of Amendment 
64," said industry spokesman Mike Elliott, executive director of the 
Marijuana Industry Group. "If communities don't want this, it 
shouldn't be forced down their throats. At the same time, those who 
want it shouldn't be stopped."

Pueblo County officials recently told The Denver Post that its plans 
to become the leading pot-growing county are all about economic development.

"This was obviously foisted upon us by will of the people, and 
everyone had to react fairly quickly," Bommer said. But he credits 
state policymakers and lawmakers for setting the right tone for sober 
implementation of 2012's Amendment 64.

Here is a look at the experiences of cities and towns that have 
allowed retail marijuana, often following on a track record of 
medical pot shops, and some that have rejected it emphatically.

Denver

Colorado's capital and largest city attracted international attention 
when its recreational pot shops opened Jan. 1 with long lines out the 
door. It hasn't let up.

"We just met with France and Germany last week," Ashley Kilroy, the 
city's executive director on marijuana policy, said in November about 
the many requests for briefings she's gotten from government 
officials. Often, they have come from states that just legalized 
marijuana in some way or were considering it.

Denver, with about 100 retail marijuana licenses granted thus far, 
has had few hiccups in its rollout.

And it's reaped a good chunk of new local sales tax revenue - $7.6 
million through September, about half of that from a special 3.5 
percent tax approved by voters. It's also gotten a share of a state 
marijuana tax.

The city in June tapped $3.4 million of the expected proceeds to beef 
up its inspection and regulatory staffs, expand public safety efforts 
and pay for a public education campaign.

And the newfound money got the city's parks department out of a tough 
spot, with more than $3 million helping cover cost increases in the 
Central Denver Recreation Center project.

Given Amendment 64's nearly 10-point margin among Denver voters, "we 
wanted to ensure that we adopted and implemented the will of the 
voters," Kilroy said, "while, at the same time, balancing that with 
public health and safety and enforcing the regulations around it."

City officials also have adapted to new challenges by adopting new 
rules restricting amateur hash-oil production and monitoring 
unregulated, small marijuana growing co-ops.

A remaining point of tension: the stringency of Denver's ban on 
public pot consumption. It's frustrated marijuana tourists as well as 
enthusiasts who want to celebrate their new freedom in public 
gatherings, including the massive 4/20 festival at Civic Center.

Lakewood

In November, voters in Lakewood decided against allowing retail 
marijuana stores in the city by a ratio of 54 percent to 46 percent.

Mayor Bob Murphy said the issue was important enough that city 
leaders felt it should go to a vote of the people rather than being 
decided by the City Council.

Dan Cohrs, chief financial officer for Colorado Christian University 
in Lakewood, campaigned against Ballot Question 2A last fall. Even 
though Lakewood residents resoundingly passed Amendment 64 two years 
ago, Cohrs said, they didn't envision pot stores on every corner.

"When people voted for Amendment 64, they thought they voted for 
decriminalization of marijuana," he said. "What they got were these 
superstores selling gummy bears, lollipops and THC-laced candies. 
That's a far cry from decriminalization.

"What they are seeing on South Broadway and in some parts of Denver, 
they didn't want here."

But Shaun Gindi, owner of Compassionate Pain Management in Lakewood, 
said the city "is giving up on a lot" in terms of potential sales tax 
revenue by disallowing retail marijuana businesses. CPM is one of a 
dozen medical marijuana dispensaries in Lakewood.

"The same amount of marijuana is going to get consumed in Lakewood, 
whether it's legal or not to buy here," Gindi said. "The difference 
is people are going to drive out of the city and go to Denver and to 
Edgewater to get it."

Aurora

The marijuana industry is just getting started in the metro area's 
largest suburban city, which had the distinction of launching retail 
pot sales this fall with no medical marijuana experience.

As in Denver, elected officials felt pressure to respect Aurora 
voters' support for Amendment 64.

But a special City Council committee set up to write Aurora's rules 
also had an eye on making its pot shops competitive. They can stay 
open until 10 p.m., three hours later than in Denver.

So far, the city of nearly 350,000 has just a handful of dispensaries 
open, with 23 licenses granted of a maximum 24.

"Everything I understand is that it's going very well," said 
Councilman Bob Roth, who led the marijuana committee.

He said among its best decisions was to start with tough minimum 
requirements for applicants.

"We wanted to make sure that we had operators that not only were good 
business people," Roth said, "but also had a clear understanding of 
this particular business."

With the industry launching recently in Aurora, the revenue question 
still is open. City voters in November authorized a special 5 percent 
excise tax and a 2 percent sales tax on marijuana, with combined 
proceeds estimated at up to $2.4 million next year. Aurora's regular 
sales tax is expected to raise $2.8 million more from marijuana sales.

Palisade

Voters in this tiny Western Slope town just east of Grand Junction 
also said no to recreational pot stores in November, but the margin 
was just six votes out of more than 1,000 ballots counted.

The election means Jesse Loughman, co-owner of medical marijuana 
dispensary Colorado Alternative Health Care in Palisade, won't be 
able to expand his business into the world of recreational sales. 
Besides curtailing his own growth plans, Loughman said the town of 
2,600 - famous for its vineyards and peach orchards - is forfeiting a 
potentially lucrative stream of revenue.

According to the town, Palisade stood to collect $200,000 annually in 
sales taxes from recreational marijuana operations.

"Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money for a town the size 
of Palisade," Loughman said.

Pot stores, he said, would have fit in well with - and given an 
economic boost to - a town that boasts more than a dozen wineries, a 
brewery and a distillery.

But those who fought against Palisade's recreational marijuana 
measure, like Diane Cox of the citizens group Safe and Healthy Mesa 
County, said the voters' decision in November tells her that people 
are beginning to recognize the less-than-innocuous effects of 
marijuana, especially on young people.

"I think people are becoming a lot more alarmed," Cox said. "Effects 
of marijuana on young people's brains are devastating."

The decision of voters in Palisade means that De Beque stands as the 
only town in Mesa County to permit recreational sales of cannabis. 
Its first store is expected to open this month.

Garden City

The tiny town of Garden City didn't hesitate to capitalize on 
recreational marijuana.

Situated between Greeley and Evans in Weld County, the town of 300 or 
so residents and 60 businesses previously had embraced medical 
marijuana. And after the end of Prohibition, it incorporated and 
welcomed bars and liquor stores a full three decades before Greeley 
followed suit.

"I think the surrounding communities would rather we didn't" allow 
marijuana dispensaries, said Cheryl Campbell, the town administrator. 
"They're pretty vocal about it. We see stuff in the paper."

But the town board, reflecting the town's independent spirit, voted 
7-0 to approve the expansion to retail marijuana. All four medical 
cannabis dispensaries have jumped on board.

Retail marijuana is among the factors driving a surge in sales tax 
revenue, which Campbell says the town doesn't break down by source. 
It didn't create a special marijuana tax.

In November, the town collected $105,356 from all businesses, she 
said, up 81 percent over the same month last year. Sales tax receipts 
for the year through November were about $924,000, versus $668,000 
for all of last year.

"Last year, at this time, I would never have speculated more than $1 
million in sales taxes," Campbell said.

The excess cash has enabled the town to earmark $300,000 for a "major 
face-lift" of its three-block main street next year, with a 
revitalization plan still being formulated.

Colorado Springs

Colorado's second-largest city put in place its recreational sales 
ban without going to the ballot box - the City Council voted 5-4 in 
summer 2013 to prohibit recreational marijuana sales. In September, 
the council voted against putting the issue on the ballot for voters 
to decide in April.

City Council president Keith King said "there weren't enough rules 
and regulations" ready for a potential recreational cannabis sector 
in the city for the majority of the council to feel comfortable 
seeking a vote of the electorate. King specifically wanted a 10 
percent city tax on retail pot sales in the city.

"Unless it is highly regulated or highly taxed, it's not worth doing," he said.

But Councilwoman Jill Gaebler said Colorado Springs is essentially 
putting its head in the sand on the issue. With a popular and highly 
trafficked recreational marijuana store in nearby Manitou Springs, 
Gaebler said Colorado Springs is getting hit with the social impacts 
of legal pot without realizing any of the revenue benefits from sales 
tax collections.

Voters in the city narrowly passed Amendment 64 in 2012.

City officials estimate that recreational cannabis businesses would 
generate $500,000 to $900,000 a year based on a 1 percent sales tax 
levy. Through the first 10 months of 2014, Colorado Springs collected 
more than $1.1 million in sales tax revenues from the medical 
marijuana dispensaries that operate in the city.

Elliott, the Marijuana Industry Group director, said Colorado Springs 
and other communities like it are doing little to keep marijuana out 
of their midst by prohibiting its legal sale.

"Colorado Springs is leaving it to the black market," he said. 
"Marijuana is being bought and sold in all of these communities. And 
by banning it, they have decided to let the drug cartels sell it 
instead of regulated and taxed businesses."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom