MED MARIJUANA BILL HAZE

Issues Arise As City Council Looks at New State Law

Greg Goldfogel is trying to do everything possible to legally
manufacture marijuana-infused products under city and state law.

The Denver restaurateur has until the end of the month to turn in his
license application to the city to remain a legal "infused products
manufacturer." There's only one problem; the city doesn't have an
application for infused products manufacturers, yet he would be
operating illegally starting July 1 if he doesn't turn in the
non-existent application.

"We take this very seriously as people who not only want to operate
in the city of DenverEbut we want to do it completely legally," said
Goldfogel, who got into the medical marijuana business after his
restaurant, Alto, shut down because of the recession. "Basically I'm
in a Catch-22."

Denver City Council yesterday began the process of trying to rectify
House Bill 1284, the comprehensive medical marijuana bill signed into
law this month, with the medical marijuana regulation ordinance they
passed at the beginning of the year. There are numerous differences
between the city and state law, ranging from who can operate a
medical marijuana center to where the centers can be located.

And while Denver City Council has plenty of time to work out most of
the kinks between state and local laws, they likely have less than
two weeks to figure out what to do about the infused products
manufacturers who must turn in an application that doesn't exist by July 1.

For his part, Denver Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell
acknowledged the problem facing people like Goldfogel, though he
offered no easy answers. Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt
suggested that city council could quickly write a piece of regulation
that would give some safe harbor to those manufacturers trying to
file the proper paperwork and operate legally. But Broadwell doubted
that city action would do any good since it's state law, which trumps
city law, requiring the July 1 deadline.

Long Process

Yesterday's safety committee kicked off the long and involved process
that will see Denver City Council trying to implement HB 1284 into city law.

HB 1284 differentiates between medical marijuana centers and
caregivers, who are protected by the constitution under Amendment 20.
City law is based on the assumption that caregivers and centers are
the same. Other notable differences between city and state law that
city council must eventually address are:

Location of grow operations: HB 1284 allows marijuana to be grown at
a second location outside of the center, while city ordinance
requires the marijuana to be grown on site or adjacent to the center;

Location of centers: City ordinance requires dispensaries to be 1,000
feet from another center, which HB 1284 doesn't address. However, HB
1284 requires centers to be located far away from drug treatment
facilities and college campuses, which city ordinance doesn't address;

Licensee requirements: HB 1284 places more limitations on who can
operate a center, including requiring owners to be a Colorado
residents for several years;

HB 1284 allows Denver City Council to choose whether they want to
follow state law with the location of grow operations, centers, and
requirements for licensees. But city council has no say on the July
1 application deadline. "The industry already understands that it's
going to be operating in somewhat in a gray area for some time," said
Nevitt, who later added, "This will always be gray, but lets make it
as white as possible."