PAONIA'S RESOURCES LIMIT ABILITY TO REGULATE DISPENSARIES

Dear Editor:

The Paonia Town Council is in the midst of formulating a town
ordinance for governing medical marijuana dispensaries (centers). Here
are some thoughts.

Our town has very limited resources. The administration of this
ordinance will call on all of these resources: town council time and
effort...town employees' energy and attention...and the use of our
fragile infrastructure. To what extent will these limited resources be
used to assure access to medical marijuana? That will depend on how
broadly this ordinance is written.

It is not this community's responsibility to establish regulations
which would assure success for these centers. The dispensaries are a
business and, like all other ventures, the risk of failure is theirs.
Nor is it the community's responsibility to push the envelope on the
legalization of marijuana...that battle has a different venue.

With a population of approximately 1,500 folks, two centers are more
than sufficient to meet the legitimate need for our community.
Creating competition is not our concern. We have only one grocery
store, one drug store, one theater, one cleaners, one flower shop.

The original zoning designation (C1) is also ample. Extending zoning
to C2 enlarges the area needed to be monitored and risks infringing on
residential areas. We do not need to create problems for our
neighbors. And we don't want to create conflict unnecessarily.

We do not have the resources or expertise to monitor the production of
medical marijuana. Marijuana is an agricultural crop...it has the
potential to cause air, water and ground pollution. Commercial
production calls for chemicals, energy and disposal. All of this could
threaten our town's beauty, health and economic strength. Allowing
production within the dispensary and within the city limits seems
foolhardy. We need to be cognizant of our limitations.

The state issued the sales tax licenses to current dispensaries
without a by-your-leave. It took the state 10 years to put together
regulations. Let's see if the state can/will administer the
regulations before we depend on it for our well-being.

The revenues from the sales tax should have very little weight in this
discussion. The beauty and the advantage of living here should have
first priority.

Patty Capen

Paonia