POT PROVIDERS SAY GROW BAN A 'DISSERVICE'

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - A common desire to comply with a new Colorado law
is putting Garfield County and local medical marijuana providers at
odds.

County commissioners last week voted 2-1 to adopt a six-month
moratorium on new medical marijuana establishments to give the county
time to figure out how to deal with zoning and licensing issues as
required by the law. But their action eliminates the hopes of some
providers of opening grow operations in rural areas within the county
in time to help meet a requirement of the law that they begin growing
at least 70 percent of the product they sell.

The moratorium applies to unincorporated parts of the county. Some
dispensary owners had been eyeing such rural, agricultural areas as
potential places to operate related growing facilities. However,
Garfield planning staff members say the county's current zoning
rules are silent on medical marijuana, and they don't consider
growing operations permissible under existing agricultural zoning.

Quinn Whitten, who owns dispensaries in Garfield and Pitkin counties,
questioned that interpretation.

"They're going to have a hard time saying a plant growing in the
ground is not agricultural," Whitten said.

Some in the medical marijuana field worry that actions such as
Garfield County's moratorium are affecting the ability of patients to
get marijuana.

"I think what they did is a disservice to the community, especially
its most debilitated members," said Jami Hill-Miller, who said she
works as a caregiver for home-bound patients.

Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Houpt voted against the
moratorium. She said more thought needs to be given to possible
unintended consequences.

But commissioner John Martin said, "I think we need to take that
timeout, a moratorium, make sure we're focused on the positives and
negatives and make a decision that's fair to both sides."

Glenwood Springs resident Shannon Winkler said she is happy to see
the moratorium passed. She also wants the county to consider asking
voters whether the county should ban medical marijuana facilities
altogether in unincorporated areas, as is allowed under the new law.

County voters approved the state's medical marijuana constitutional
amendment 10 years ago by a 9,131-7,572 vote. But Winkler said she
has talked to people who supported that measure who "didn't think it
would look like this."