CITY COUNCIL OKS MARIJUANA BALLOT QUESTION, MMJ SHOP OWNERS WORK FOR
REGULATION

While the Loveland City Council voted on official ballot language to
put the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries in voters' hands
Tuesday, shop owners were busy drafting suggested regulations and
making their way to shops around town in to help tame some of the more
outrageous slogans and signs on dispensaries.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, the council unanimously
approved official language to place the issue on the ballot for Nov. 2
of this year.

After some discussion, the ballot question was finally worded so that
a "yes" vote means the voter wishes to allow the city to permit and
license the dispensaries. A "no" vote means

The Loveland Association for Wellness, or LAW, a recently developed
group headed by members of the medical marijuana business community,
met with two city council members last week and decided to start
developing rules for shops that could take effect sooner than Nov. 2,
when Lovelanders will decide if they want the shops in town at all.

Councilwoman Cathleen McEwen said Tuesday that LAW group members she
met were very willing to work with the council to create laws that
would eliminate some of the less favorable advertisements and
decorations on some shops in town.

"They have a desire to stay in business and I think that they realize
that in order to do that, they have to treat it like a bona fide
business," McEwen said.

Large images of marijuana leaves and references to getting high or
stoned need to go, she said.

During a July 20 City Council meeting, many medical marijuana shop
owners and proponents nodded their heads when council members
mentioned creating some regulations for the businesses that would take
effect quickly.

"What we're trying to do is address some of these needs in the
immediate," McEwen said Tuesday morning.

Eric Aragon, who is helping to organize the movement, said regulation
proponents made their way around the city Tuesday asking businesses
with offensive or over-the-top signage to take it down. LAW plans to
meet today to create a resolution which it will later present to the
City Council.

Some of the LAW members McEwen and councilwoman Joan Shaffer met with
last week said they had already begun working to create and implement
some regulations on shops. Whatever ideas the group comes up with will
most likely be made stricter after council looks over them, McEwen
said.

"They're doing well without us having to get heavy-handed," McEwen
said. "There seems to be some middle ground that we've reached."

McEwen said she thinks the current agreement and balance between the
shops and the city will eliminate any concerns the public may have
about the shops and their operation.

At her meeting with LAW members, McEwen brought a copy of Fort
Collins' medical marijuana charter to help LAW draft some guidelines
and have an idea of what kind of specificity would be needed in an
agreement between the businesses and the city.