MARIJUANA DISPENSARY MORATORIUM IMPOSED

ALAMOSA - The Alamosa County Board of County Commissioners voted
unanimously Wednesday for a 120 day moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries in the county.

The only marijuana dispensary currently in the county is Sensitiva
Holistic Healthcare, owned by Mark Bustos. As soon as his shop was
opened it was investigated by the Alamosa County Sheriff's Office and
ultimately declared "legal" with all the required permits.

Located east of Alamosa on Hwy. 160, patients or a specifically
approved designated person can go to the shop to have their
prescriptions filled.

Brian Bustos, who assists his brother Mark with the business, in a
November interview with the Valley Courier, said he and his brother
would like to open another shop but there are too many gray areas in
the state law.

Persons suffering from debilitating medical conditions such as cancer,
glaucoma, HIV or AIDS qualify for medical marijuana prescriptions
under Colorado state law.

Barry Shioshita, county administrator, told the commissioners the
state does not make allowances for an employee taking medically
prescribed marijuana. Anyone driving or working on county vehicles who
tests positive for drugs or alcohol will be dealt with according to
CDOT rules.

In other county business matters Shioshita said there would be funds
to grant county employees a "cost of living" raise. He said he
budgeted for merit raises as well, but the issue of merit raises would
be held in abeyance until there was a better indication of how funding
for 2010 will go.

A housing assessment for the San Luis Valley was completed under
budget, Shioshita said, costing less than half of the $100,000 grant
awarded to the county for the study. Approval has been given for the
county to use the remaining funding to do a more in-depth study of the
housing needs of the cities of Monte Vista and Alamosa.

Ken VanIwarden, Alamosa County Land Use Office, Julie Geiser, Director
of Nursing Services and Sheriff Dave Stong gave monthly reports to the
commissioners.

Julie Geiser, Director of Nursing Services, advised the commissioners
of a 1% cut in Medicaid. She said an additional 5% cut is expected
next year.

H1N1 flu shots have been going smoothly, Geiser said, with her staff
working extra hard to make sure all the school children were vaccinated.

Geiser also told the commissioner that another home health person
needs to be hired. She said the ratio is three clients per case manager.

The ambulance service made approximately 2,100 runs in 2009. Nine
paramedics and six emergency medical technicians are employed to man
the ambulances.

Sheriff Dave Stong presented the commissioners with some up-to-date
statistics. Through November in 2009 the jail has served 63,720 meals
to inmates. There are 65 inmates in the county jail as of Dec. 30, and
one inmate in the house arrest program. From January 2009 through
November 2009 there have been 771 males and 212 females booked into
the county jail.

VanIwarden brought the commissioners up to date on septic tank
clean-up disposal. Rio Grande County has run into a problem of
overloading their dump area, and is going to start using the Alamosa
County dump site.

Rio Grande septic clean-up companies will deposit their waste into
three large tanks. When the tanks are full they will be transported to
the Alamosa County dump site, dump the waste, and spread it out to
dry. The waste will be treated with lime to keep odors down.
Periodically Alamosa County discs the area to mix the waste into the
soil.

The septic cleaning companies pay an annual $25 license fee to dump
the wastes in Alamosa County.