MORE MEDICAL MARIJUANA MORATORIUMS

Silt, New Castle Want to See What State Does

The towns of Silt and New Castle both have enacted moratoriums on
medical marijuana dispensaries with town limits.

The trustees of both town have concluded that they will see what the
state legislature does in its next session, which begins in January,
2010, before taking any further action on the issue, according to
town officials.

"I think it's a 'wait-and-see,'" said New Castle planner Tim Cain,
referring to the council's attitude about the town staff starting an
active investigation into the issue.

"There are too many unanswered questions," declared Silt Mayor Dave
Moore. "I don't think the attorneys even know what's going on."

New Castle was first to take the action, approving a six-month
moratorium at the town council meeting on Nov. 17. There are no
dispensaries in town, and no applications have been received
regarding plans to open one up there.

Silt followed a week later, on Nov. 23, after receiving one inquiry,
reportedly from the owner of a dispensary from a nearby town.

The Silt moratorium also is for 180 days.

Cain said the New Castle decision came after the council had been
considering, and passed on first reading, an ordinance that would
have permitted medical marijuana dispensaries in certain areas and
applied other restrictions.

But, Cain said, that ordinance was discarded after the trustees began
talking about possible legislative action.

"The reality is, the State of Colorado has got to figure out what
it's going to do," Cain said.

He was referring to a number of possible legislative actions
concerning medical marijuana dispensaries in the upcoming session of
the Colorado General Assembly.

Already, at least two state senators have vowed to come up with laws
imposing restrictions on what has been a fairly wide-open boom.
According to news reports, there are more than 100 dispensaries in
the Denver metropolitan area, and approximately 20 in the area
between Aspen and Rifle.

In Silt, according to town attorney Gene Duran, the board of trustees
also is taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"I'm anticipating that the legislature is going to act on this in the
next session," Duran remarked, noting that "some [municipalities] are
already banning the dispensaries, regulating them or putting them
under zoning restrictions."

He said he hopes the trustees will take another look at the issue
even before the legislature acts.

"I'd like to have a more thorough discussion in January about what
some of the options are," Duran said. "I've heard from at least a
couple of board members who wanted a ban, and others who wanted to
regulate. I got the sense that a couple of trustees wanted to take
action [before the moratorium expires]."