VOTERS WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO TAX THE SUBSTANCE

In all the drama over whether Pueblo city voters will vote on allowing
medical marijuana centers in the city, no one paid much attention
Monday night as City Council took the first steps toward adopting
licensing and zoning regulations for those businesses.

On the big question of letting city voters settle the issue of
marijuana centers in Pueblo, council narrowly rejected that proposal
from Councilwoman Judy Weaver. On that 4-3 vote, a majority indicated
they wanted to go forward with licensing and regulating the businesses
instead. Council also agreed, on a 6-1 vote, to ask voters in November
whether to impose a 4.3 percent sales tax on medical marijuana and
related paraphernalia.

Those were the high-profile, much-debated issues on Monday's
agenda.

But earlier in the meeting, council approved on first reading two
sizable proposed ordinances that spell out how the city intends to
license marijuana centers in the future and where they will be allowed
to operate in the city.

Both proposals will come back to council in two weeks for public
hearings and final consideration. But their adoption Monday night
starts the city toward regulating the controversial businesses.

Even so, the city's legal staff does not believe a marijuana center
will be able to do business in Pueblo until July 2011, when state
licenses will become available.

"It would be extremely unlikely that any center could legally get its
doors open before next summer," said Kurt Stiegelmeier, assistant city
attorney.

Karen Garnant, owner of MediMar Ministries, 112 Colorado Ave., hopes
the city lawyers are wrong. She said that attorneys for the marijuana
center are talking to city officials about having the city grandfather
the business back into operation if it can relocate to one of the
areas of the city that would be zoned for such businesses.

Garnant is the wife of Tom Sexton, the former owner of MediMar.
Earlier this summer, he was convicted of possessing marijuana at his
Beulah property, where he was growing plants for MediMar. He later
transferred ownership of the business to his wife.

MediMar was the only marijuana center openly doing business in Pueblo
this spring despite a city moratorium on such businesses. City staff
sent the business a cease-and-desist order on June 30.

According to Stiegelmeier, the deadline hanging over the heads of all
aspiring center operators is Sept. 1. That's when state officials will
require all marijuana centers currently operating to be able to
certify that they grow at least 70 percent of the marijuana they sell.
And before that certification can occur, a center would have to obtain
a limited-use permit from Pueblo city officials as well, even as it
applied for local licensing.

Given that council won't be able to adopt the licensing and zoning
ordinances before the end of July -- and a limited-use permit takes 60
days to obtain -- Stiegelmeier said it doesn't appear that any
applicant could get those steps accomplished by Sept. 1.