CITY CONSIDERS LAW TO DISTANCE POT GROWERS

Councilors Want To Keep Cultivation Centers In County

With the first provisions of a law aimed at regulating the burgeoning
medical marijuana industry in Colorado going into effect Thursday,
Durango City Council is preparing to amend the city's marijuana
ordinance, which it passed last year. Changes could include
forbidding grow operations in city limits and significantly raising
the cost to acquire a license.

At a special study session Tuesday, councilors reviewed House Bill
1284, as distilled by City Attorney David Smith, who read from a
five-page summary of the 78-page bill, at times with sarcasm in his voice.

"The thing that's so frustrating is the internal inconsistencies,"
Smith said after the meeting.

Criticized by supporters and opponents of medical marijuana, the bill
sets up a licensing and regulation system for marijuana businesses in
Colorado, establishes the Department of Revenue as the regulating
agency and allows local jurisdictions to "opt out" and ban the sale
of marijuana.

The bill is intended to cut down on abuses from patients who don't
have debilitating conditions and the doctors who supply them with
easy recommendations. Smith said a small number of doctors in
Colorado have written recommendations for about 70 percent of the
state's registered patients.

Smith predicts the law will change considerably before it is
scheduled to sunset in 2015.

Both of Durango's state legislators - Sen. Bruce Whitehead and Rep.
Ellen Roberts - voted for the bill.

Durango and other Colorado cities are now scrambling to bring their
laws into conformance with the state's.

Because of the fire danger posed by grow operations, and the nuisance
presented to neighbors, councilors Doug Lyon, Christina Thompson and
Paul Broderick asked Smith to draft an ordinance that would forbid
growers from operating in city limits. Councilor Leigh Meigs and
Mayor Michael Rendon were absent Tuesday.

Fire Marshal Tom Kaufman with the Durango Fire & Rescue Authority
said a man who died in a fire at the Pinon Heights apartment complex
in November 2009 was a registered marijuana patient growing his own
plants. The man, James "Dan" Middleton, was using high-intensity
construction lights, and growing chemicals were discovered near the
source of the fire. Kaufman said the Middleton "didn't know what he was doing."

Kaufman said Medical Horticultural Services is in compliance with all
applicable fire codes.

Aside from six storefront dispensaries, Durango has one licensed
growing operation, Medical Horticultural Services, located in the
Durango Tech Center. The center is just west of downtown Durango.

Smith said Medical Horticultural Services would not be affected by
any changes to the city's laws. But because the new state law does
away with stand-alone grow operations, the business will have to
become affiliated with a medical marijuana retail "center" - the new
term for dispensary - by Sept. 1.

Another reason councilors want to ban grow operations is a provision
in the state bill that allows growers to keep their locations secret.
Assistant Planning Director Tim McHarg said the provision would
conflict with the city's duty to comply with the Colorado Open
Records Act, which it does by posting notices and holding public
meetings about land-use issues that affect neighbors.

"Openness is a central tenet in the way we make our decisions," Lyon said.

Lyon said he favors a system where the grow operations are in the
county and the retail centers are in city limits.

The council could also vote on increasing the cost of a business
license for a dispensary, to bring it into alignment with the
unusually high level of staff time associated with licensing and
inspecting a new dispensary.

Currently, a business license application fee for a dispensary is $50.

"I would recommend they make it significantly higher," Smith said.

One obstacle to drafting good local rules is a lack of reliable
information, said City Clerk Amy Philips.

Philips said the state's latest figure for registered marijuana
patients in La Plata County - 239 as of October 2009 - seems low. To
get a better sense of demand in the county, she polled the dispensaries.

Based on their information, Philips estimates there are 1,460
customers of licensed dispensaries in Durango.

With 56,000 unprocessed applications from patients waiting at the
health department, the number seems likely to continue to grow, she said.

Broderick called the new state law an "enforcement nightmare."

"To me this seems like a horrible mess. I don't see how the city's
going to get in there and make sense of it," he said.

In other business: Councilor Christina Thompson was voted to the
Colorado Municipal League executive board while attending the annual
CML conference last week.

She was among 12 people elected of 24 who sought the seats on the
19-member panel.