Aspen Correspondent

ASPEN IS HOLDING OFF ON MEDICAL POT RULES

Whether it's appropriate for an elite mountain resort town to play
host to medical pot shops is certainly debatable.

But Vail is leaning negative on the question. Its Town Council
approved a ban Tuesday on marijuana emporiums in the city limits. The
increasingly exclusive resort town presents a stark contrast to
Aspen, which Mayor Mick Ireland has said he is trying to keep a
little more laid back.

And while the mayor says there has been no local discussion for a
similar ban here, Chris Bendon, the head of Aspen's community
development department, said the city is not taking any action until
something big happens at the state level.

"There's been a lot of movement at the state level," Bendon said.
"What is fine and acceptable today might be different in three months
because community opinion changes."

As the Colorado weed debate heats up on the state level in both
parties and local moratoriums abound, Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to
sign legislation that would grant municipalities the right to
disallow the shops.

The owner of one Aspen's four shops, Brett Nelson, says it's business
as usual until the debate comes to a head.

"Everybody's in a holding pattern, which is nearing finalization,"
Nelson said, adding that he thinks local government should have the
purview to control the budding industry. "Can I praise or condemn
Vail? No; it's up to licensing authorities, and I think that's good."

But sitting next to a decorative weight system in his shop, Ute City
Medicinals, that he calls "The Weights of Justice," Nelson later
said: "Vail sucks."