SUPERIOR PASSES BOULDER COUNTY'S FIRST MEDICAL POT DISPENSARY BAN

Vote comes despite planning commission's advice to regulate the businesses

Town leaders in Superior passed an ordinance Monday evening
prohibiting any medical-marijuana facility from setting up shop in
town, becoming the first municipality in Boulder County to ban the
dispensaries outright.

Trustees voted 6-to-0 in favor of the ban, which will take effect in
about a month. Trustee Debra Williams was absent.

Superior appears to be the state's second town or city to permanently
ban medical marijuana dispensaries since the Colorado Legislature
passed a law last month regulating the industry and allowing
municipalities to outlaw the facilities. Vail was the first to enact
a ban on June 1.

Mayor Andrew Muckle said Superior, which doesn't have any
dispensaries currently in operation, could always revisit the issue
later if it's apparent that residents want them.

"If we permit something, it's very difficult to go back," he said.

Medical marijuana advocates reacted immediately to Superior's decision.

"It's my impression that the leaders of Superior are passing poor
public policy," said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible
Colorado. "I think it's going to hurt the sickest members of their community."

He said the town is inviting "costly litigation" from those who
believe that the state's decision to allow towns and cities to ban
dispensaries is unconstitutional.

A decade ago, Colorado voters passed Amendment 20, which allows
people with debilitating medical conditions to consume marijuana. The
amendment to the state constitution stipulated that caregivers could
provide medicinal pot to patients but didn't speak to the legality of
dispensaries, which blossomed statewide this year after the Obama
administration said it wouldn't use federal law to pursue dispensary owners.

It is estimated there are now 1,100 dispensaries statewide and about
half are not expected to survive the stricter regulations at the
state level. Gov. Bill Ritter signed the legislation into law last week.

"Patients have the right to access medicine at a storefront just like
anyone else trying get medicine," Vicente said, lambasting Superior's
vote. "It's like banning pharmacies."

With two dispensaries open across U.S. 36 in Louisville, Mayor Muckle
said, Superior's ban is hardly restricting residents' abilities to
obtain medical marijuana.

Superior has long been aggressive in its opposition to dispensaries,
being the first in the state to ban them last fall. The town
rescinded the ban a few months later after determining that it might
be on shaky legal ground without clear regulations from the state. It
imposed a moratorium instead.

Monday's vote was in sharp contrast to a decision last month by the
town's planning commission to oppose a ban. The commission felt that
dispensaries should be permitted and regulated in Superior because
they are already allowed under state law.

"I would just have to disagree with them on this issue," said Trustee
Elia Gourgouris, noting that several of his constituents had
contacted him urging him to vote for the ban.

No members of the public spoke out on the issue Monday evening.

Muckle seemed to recognize the import of the board's vote,
acknowledging that Superior is once again on the "cutting edge" of the issue.

A number of other Colorado municipalities will likely follow in
Superior's footsteps. Greenwood Village is in the process of
approving a dispensary ban. Aurora plans to put the issue of a ban up
to a vote of its residents in November.

Several town and cities in Boulder County -- including Louisville,
Lafayette, Erie, and Longmont -- have put in place moratoriums on new
dispensaries and are in the midst of trying to figure out what kind
of regulations to pass.

It's too soon to say whether any of them are planning to introduce
their own bans.

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Medical marijuana regulations in Boulder County

Boulder: Dispensaries must be licensed by the city and are prohibited
from operating within 500 feet of a school or day-care center. No
marijuana business can operate in areas that have three or more other
marijuana businesses within 500 feet.

Longmont: Moratorium on new dispensaries effective until June 30, 2011.

Erie: Moratorium on new dispensaries effective until Oct. 6.

Louisville: Moratorium on new dispensaries effective until Aug. 15;
likely to be extended.

Lafayette: Moratorium on new dispensaries effective until Aug. 3;
likely to be extended.

Lyons: Moratorium on new dispensaries effective until Sept. 10.

Nederland: None.

Boulder County: Dispensaries allowed only in areas zoned as
transitional, commercial, light industrial and general industrial. No
marijuana business allowed within 1,000 feet of child-care
facilities, schools, or drug and alcohol treatment centers. Medical
marijuana centers are also banned within 500 feet of one another.