You may have heard about them in the news or have witnessed the sudden appearance of signs featuring feathery green leaves in storefronts across the city – either way, the issue of having medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver has come to the forefront. It is a complicated issue with lots of questions and few known answers. Yet.
On December 2, during Denver City Council’s Safety Committee meeting, Councilman Charlie Brown brought forward legislation for discussion that would regulate medical marijuana in Denver. Regulate it, that is, within the narrow confines that a city can regulate it. Cities only have some say over how to issue licenses to dispensaries and how they are regulated through zoning, but it is state law that addresses much of how we can govern medical marijuana. It is widely reported that the next session of Colorado’s state legislature will take on setting up regulations regarding medical marijuana. Here are some of the areas that the Colorado legislature can address:
- Legitimacy of doctor-patient relationship and the relationship of doctors to dispensaries.
- The meaning of “primary care-giver” and whether they should be separately tracked and licensed at the state level.
- Ratio of patients to care-givers and the ratio of care-givers to patients.
- Public health regulations for human consumption of medical marijuana and the lawful amount of medical marijuana that may be possessed by patients and caregivers at any one time.
In the meantime, as we watch what the state legislature will do to regulate the issues noted above, Denver City Council will move forward toward passing our own regulations. Some of the major components being proposed for a City ordinance include:
- Requiring all dispensaries that open after December 1, 2009, to meet distance requirements — they cannot be within 500 feet of any school or child-care establishment; they cannot be within 1,000 feet of any other medical marijuana dispensary. Those who establish dispensaries that violate these proximity rules after December 1 are taking a big risk in that they could very well be shut down when Denver’s legislation passes.
- Required licensing of dispensaries will be very similar to those of liquor licenses with some exceptions that have not been worked out yet
- March 1, 2010, will be the date in which all dispensaries will need to be licensed by Denver. This does NOT grandfather in any existing dispensaries. If the dispensary isn’t licensed by March 1, they will be operating illegally.
The proposals noted above are still in the discussion stage — they are NOT established law yet! It has been pointed out that it is important for the City to act fast given how many dispensaries are popping up across the city, but it is important to remember that we need to make certain we do a good job of regulating this new business in Denver or we may end up with problems that other cities face — such as Los Angeles, where there are now more medical marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks!
So stay tuned, and let me know your thoughts about the issue. The next Safety Committee meeting to discuss the proposed legislation will be December 16 at 9:15 am in the 3rd Floor Council Conference Room, Room 391 at the City & County Building. You can also watch it live on Channel 8 or online at www.denvergov.org/denver8TV. Catch re-runs on Channel 8 or watch online.
