VAIL, BRECK DIFFER ON POT SHOPS

Town Leaders Of Ski Towns Have Opposing Views On Medical Marijuana
Dispensaries

VAIL, Colorado -- Both Breckenridge and Vail are family-friendly ski
towns that attract visitors from around the world each year, so why do
the town leaders from each town differ on medical marijuana laws?

The Vail Town Council voted to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from
opening up within the town, while Breckenridge voted to allow
dispensaries.

Breckenridge Councilwoman Jennifer McAtamney said the Breckenridge
Town Council felt that the voters of Colorado had approved medical
marijuana and it wasn't the town's place to go against that decision.

"Out of respect for that decision (in 2000), we felt we needed to
accommodate it in some way," McAtamney said. "But it couldn't be just
a free for all."

So the town decided to allow dispensaries, but with heavy regulations
such as no doctors are allowed to work on-site at dispensaries,
inventory controls, security measures like surveillance cameras and
air filtration systems to control the smell of the marijuana.

"We didn't feel at the time, considering the will of the voters, to
deny it totally," said Breckenridge Town Councilman Jeffrey Bergeron,
who's also a medical marijuana cardholder. "We felt that medical use
of marijuana and recreational use in your own home is something that
the community feels is a low priority issue."

Vail Mayor Dick Cleveland said allowing the pot shops in Vail "flies
in the face of the tone we've tried to set in this community."

Vail leaders have a vision for Vail to be "the premier mountain resort
community." They want Vail to be No. 1 again in Ski Magazine's annual
rankings -- a position they've lost to Deer Valley, Utah, in recent
years. The 2010 survey ranked Vail third, behind Deer Valley and
Whistler, British Columbia.

While the rankings are for the ski resort, town leaders feel a lot of
the responsibility for making the top spot. Skiers and snowboarders
visiting Vail don't typically distinguish the town from the ski resort
- -- they're one in the same, Vail town leaders say.

Medical marijuana dispensaries, however, don't align with the image
Vail wants, some Vail Town Council members have said.

"To me it's just that when you've got guests coming here from all over
the country and all over the world, I just don't think we need to have
it here in town," Councilman Kevin Foley said. "Guests coming into
town might think, ‘Oh, great, I can get some weed in Vail.'"

The right regulations Bergeron said the town of Breckenridge has tried
to eliminate some of the so-called "tainted image" possibilities
through zoning and other regulations. Dispensaries also can't display
marijuana leaf artwork in the window or anywhere along their
storefront. The shops won't be located along Main Street, either.

The regulations are exactly what Vail Town Councilwoman Margaret
Rogers wanted for Vail -- Rogers was the only dissenting vote on the
Vail pot shop ban. She said Vail could find a way to make dispensaries
work within the town through regulations much like the ones
Breckenridge has put in place.

"The primary reason I support it is because it's legal," Rogers said.
"The people of the state voted and determined they wanted it to be
available for those who need it. It seems to me a town council doesn't
have the right to override what the people say they want to happen."

Rogers, a retired attorney, said she can almost guarantee there will
be a lawsuit, and probably several, that challenges state and
municipality decisions to ban something that is legal in the state
constitution.

"I don't believe you can regulate a legal activity to the point where
you can no longer exercise your right," Rogers said. "My feeling is
the Colorado Supreme Court will determine the ban to be
unconstitutional, so (the Vail Town Council will) be looking at this
again anyway."

Representing citizens, guests or both? The town of Breckenridge
received some letters from out-of-towners claiming they'd never visit
Breckenridge again because of its stance on marijuana -- the town also
got letters from people saying they would absolutely come back,
McAtamney said.

Bergeron said he respects the views of Breckenridge visitors, but, as
a Town Council member, he serves Breckenridge residents.

"Personally speaking, I knew this could put off or irritate some of
our visitors, but as an elected official, who do I represent? The
people who live here and make a living in this town," Bergeron said.

Both Bergeron and McAtamney agree that since the town's 2009
decriminalization of recreational marijuana passed, which essentially
says anyone 21 and over can legally possess up to one ounce of
marijuana, there haven't been any more instances of people using pot
in town.

The town of Breckenridge received some negative response from the
decriminalization law, but Bergeron said the negative letters were
mainly from people who didn't understand that the citizens were the
ones who put the issue on the ballot in the first place.

"They thought the town took up the initiative," Bergeron
said.

Bergeron and McAtamney said the same has happened since the town's six
current dispensaries have opened for business -- that there aren't
more marijuana-related problems within the town.

"I think what people find when they get here is that things haven't
really changed," McAtamney said.