DENVER MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES APPLY FOR LICENSES

DENVER (AP) - Medical marijuana dispensary owners lined up before
7:30 a.m. Monday to apply for operating licenses.

Penny May, Denver's director of excise and licenses, said her office
had processed 22 licenses by 11:30 a.m., with many more to go. May
said as of a week ago, 477 sales tax licenses had been issued to
medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver.

The application includes a background check with fingerprinting.
Owners pay a $2,000 application fee, the cost of the background
checks and a $3,000 annual license fee, and must not have have been
convicted of a felony or served a felony sentence in the last five
years. If the application is denied, the $3,000 license fee will be refunded.

Any person who manages or owns at least a 10 percent share of a
dispensary must apply for the license in accordance with a City
Council ordinance passed last month. All medical marijuana
dispensaries in Denver must submit applications by March 1 to
continue operating legally.

Olga Skuratovich, who owns the Metro Cannibis dispensary, said she
thinks the fees are a little high. For comparison, it costs about
$3,000 to $4,000 to obtain an alcohol license in Denver.

"I think a lot of people who are just starting out and who don't have
really a lot of financial freedom are not going to be able to be in
this business because of the cost," she said.

According to the ordinance, only those dispensaries that have been
operating since before Dec. 15 and apply for a license by March 1
will be allowed to operate in a residential area or within a
1,000-foot vicinity of a school, child care establishment or other
medical marijuana dispensary.

The ordinance also sets minimum requirements for security at the
dispensaries and requires a floor plan to comply with other recent regulations.

"The regulations change daily, really, so you never know what to
expect," Skuratovich said.