MARIJUANA DISPENSARY MAY OPEN IN BRECK

Town Imposes 90-Day Moratorium To Develop Regulations

BRECKENRIDGE - Folks with doctor approval for marijuana therapy may
soon have easier access through a dispensary in Breckenridge.

Because it would be the town's first such business, town council on
Tuesday afternoon put a 90-day moratorium on licensing and location of
retail marijuana establishments. Regulations such as operating hours,
signage and proximity to such areas as schools are to be decided by
the end of the moratorium.

Local attorney Sean McAllister, who represents the party interested in
opening a dispensary, said his client is ready to open "as soon as the
town authorizes it."

"Everybody already is open - there are dozens of people in the county
that are caregivers," he said. "It's in peoples' homes, but they want
to get it out of their homes because they have children. They want a
place people can come that's not in their neighborhood."

Some 103 Summit County residents are registered for medical marijuana,
according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment.

But McAllister said the number of legal, medicinal smokers is likely
more in the ballpark of 300 to 500, for registration isn't always necessary.

"People can have recommendations, too," he said, adding that
recommendations must come from a physician with whom one has a
relationship.

Most local people have to travel as far as Lakewood for access to a
dispensary, he said.

Roaring Fork Valley may soon have its first dispensary in Carbondale,
where a man plans to open his shop in the next month, according to a
report in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

At the Breckenridge work session, council members questioned whether
they were required to allow the dispensary to open.

Town attorney Tim Berry said the town is likely unable to prohibit the
business practice from the town.

"I don't think we can trump the (state) constitution," he
said.

McAllister said in a phone interview that there are 25 or 30
dispensaries along the Front Range.

"What's shocking to me is the press and elected officials who find it
so shocking," he said, adding that distribution of medicinal marijuana
has been legal in Colorado for eight years.

Breckenridge police chief Rick Holman said dispensaries in other
municipalities are often located in industrial districts or old strip
malls.

He said the type of business appears to be an increasing trend that's
"very prosperous."

McAllister started Sensible Colorado, a nonprofit seeking to promote
education, research and policy changes toward a system "where drug use
becomes a health issue, not a crime issue," according to
sensiblecolorado.org.