Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: CannaBiz
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Griffin Swartzell

COUNCIL BLOCKS NEW MARIJUANA BUSINESSES, SALES BREAK RECORD AGAIN

Locked down

On Oct. 13, Colorado Springs City Council finalized a six-month 
freeze on the opening of new cannabis clubs, with only Bill Murray 
and Helen Collins opposing. The moratorium will expire March 22, 
2016, but Council can extend it indefinitely with two readings at 
public sessions.

Council also passed the first reading of a six-month moratorium 
stopping land use and zoning permits for any new MMJ businesses, 
including dispensaries, cultivation businesses and infused-product 
manufacturers. The measure also would prevent any existing MMJ 
businesses from moving or expanding during that time. This measure 
only passed 5 to 4, with Murray, Collins, Tom Strand and President 
Pro Tem Jill Gaebler opposing. Keith King amended the ordinance to 
block Council from extending the moratorium.

Don Knight, the District 1 councilor who spearheaded both ordinances, 
said the current process for licensing an MMJ business does not 
require public feedback. When some businesses open - bars and liquor 
stores, for instance - they have to get their neighbors to sign a 
needs-and-desire petition, approving of the business opening.

But Jason Warf, director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council, 
questioned the need for public feedback, calling it an attack on 
legitimate business. He noted that Walgreens doesn't need its 
neighbors' approval to open a new pharmacy.

Further, Murray and others wondered what emergency or crisis 
justifies a moratorium. Knight kept coming back to two incoming Gas & 
Grass locations - combination medical marijuana dispensaries and gas 
stations run by Denver-based Native Roots. But their land use permits 
were in place before the first iteration of the ordinance was read 
and delayed (CannaBiz, Sept. 30).

According to statements from Knight, he and Councilor Larry Bagley 
pursued these ordinances after a constituent took issue with a new 
cannabis club going into a nearby strip mall, as well as private 
medical grow operations running in her neighborhood. But the cannabis 
club ordinance grandfathers in all current clubs as legal, and the 
city has done nothing to address private medical grows.

Gaebler asked the salient question: "Why put in a moratorium when it 
doesn't address the true issues?"

Keef crumbs

In August, Colorado totaled $100.6 million in marijuana sales, 
counting $59.2 million in recreational sales and $41.4 million in 
medical sales, according to an Oct. 12 report from Westword.

It's another month of record-breaking sales - indeed, except for May, 
marijuana sales have grown and broken sales records continuously all 
year. Based on tax revenue data, El Paso County was responsible for 
nearly $9 million in medical sales in August.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom