COUNTY VOTERS TO DECIDE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Voters will shape the future of medical marijuana in Douglas County
this November, with a ballot question targeting unincorporated areas
of the county.

Douglas County commissioners are poised to adopt a resolution to ask
county residents if they want to allow medical marijuana dispensaries
in Douglas County.

At a June 16 staff meeting, commissioners gave the green light to the
county's legal staff to draft a resolution slated for a June 22
adoption. The resolution extends the county's moratorium on
dispensaries through Nov. 2, when voters will decide whether Douglas
County is a marijuana friendly community.

If voters elect to allow dispensaries in Douglas County, the county
will extend the moratorium as it begins the process of drafting
medical marijuana regulations, said Lance Ingalls, Douglas County
attorney. Should voters say yes to medical marijuana, a moratorium
remains in place until regulations are adopted, according to the draft
resolution.

If Douglas County residents open the door for medical marijuana
dispensaries, any moratorium is lifted by July 1, 2011, the state's
deadline to have regulations in place. Commissioners will have until
then to draft regulations, Ingalls said.

The county will additionally revisit its present zoning restrictions
on dispensaries to confirm whether or not it aligns with Colorado's 80
pages of statutes in the Medical Marijuana Code. On March 30, the
county adopted zoning regulations to restrict medical marijuana
dispensaries to a handful of industrial parcels in unincorporated
Douglas County.

"If the zoning regulations already adopted are deemed insufficient
because of something in [state statute], we are directed to review and
propose any changes to the board," Ingalls said.

The election will be the first in recent history to pose a ballot
question to all of unincorporated Douglas County, said Jack
Arrowsmith, Douglas County clerk and recorder. Most county-wide ballot
questions include all county residents, whether or not they live
within the limits of a municipality.

The clerk and recorder's office is charged with creating a ballot to
isolate those residents who live within an incorporated portion of the
county, Arrowsmith said.

The ballot question will not be presented to residents of incorporated
Parker, Castle Rock, Lone Tree, Larkspur, Castle Pines North and
pockets of the county that include Littleton and Aurora.

Residents of Parker already know the outcome of the medical marijuana
question, with a ban adopted by Parker town council at about the time
Douglas County opted for an election. Castle Rock remains under a
moratorium as Castle Rock's town council debates whether to send the
question to a public vote.

The county's decision to send it to the public reflects a longtime
tradition in Douglas County, said Wendy Holmes, Douglas County public
affairs director.

"The commissioners want the people to decide," Holmes said. "That's
the culture here."

The people who will decide if Douglas County will allow the
cultivation and sale of medical marijuana include residents of
Highlands Ranch, Castle Pines Village, Franktown and all of rural
Douglas County, Arrowsmith said.

At present, Douglas County is home to a handful of medical marijuana
dispensaries whose future is uncertain, said commissioner Jack
Hilbert. Hilbert attended a meeting for commissioners from across the
state where the conversation revolved around the issue of how existing
dispensaries are impacted by the outcome of an election.

If voters decide to close the door on medical marijuana dispensaries,
commissioners across the state are wary of getting caught up in an
illegal taking of any dispensaries already in business.

"We just don't want to end up in a taking issue," Hilbert said. "It
would all be open to interpretation; there would certainly be court
action."

If medical marijuana gets a stamp of approval from Douglas County
voters, existing dispensaries will have until July 1, 2011, to comply
with any county regulations adopted, Ingalls said. Otherwise, Ingalls
does not know how existing dispensaries could be impacted.

Regardless of the outcome, commissioners across the state know the
issue could result in lengthy legal arguments.

"They say this [medical marijuana debate] is going to be a lawyer's
dream," Hilbert said.