DECISIONS ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAN'T BE DELAYED

At the beginning of this year's session of the Colorado General
Assembly, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed that a top
issue to be addressed would be the regulation of medical marijuana
dispensaries in the state.

Regulating those dispensaries -- an offshoot of a 2000 ballot
initiative allowing the use of marijuana as a treatment option for
those suffering from debilitating medical conditions -- seemed obvious.

It still does.

Municipalities across the state have been waiting for lawmakers to
address key provisions of medical marijuana dispensaries and
treatment. Cities and counties want to know whether they have the
right to use zoning codes and ordinances to limit dispensary
locations, and the business owners behind the dispensaries are
looking for some certainty, too. Also, they want to know whether the
state will use the hammer of high fees to drive many of them out of business.

Lawmakers continued to debate bills Wednesday that would allow
cities to bar dispensaries and would require the dispensaries to
grow 70 percent of the marijuana they sell. Some lawmakers also are
looking to regulate the hours dispensaries could be open.

Unfortunately, some provisions could be poison pills to a majority
of legislators, meaning the chance for meaningful reform would be
dead for the year.

That would mean another year of patchwork regulations among cities
and counties, with dispensary owners and patients caught in the middle.

Legislators need to find common ground to allow all of those
affected by medical marijuana's explosion in Colorado to be
addressed in an orderly fashion. It should start this legislative session.