BOCC BANS DISPENSARIES

Board Of County Commissioners Votes Down Medical Marijuana
Facilities

The Montezuma County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday
to ban the operation of medical marijuana centers, cultivation sites
and infused product industries in unincorporated portions of the county.

Montezuma County Resolution 07-2010, which took effect immediately,
applies only to portions of the county that lie outside corporate -
city, town - limits and does not impact caregivers with up to five
patients or county residents with medical marijuana cards who grow
cannabis for personal use.

Commissioners passed the resolution after 90 minutes of public comment
from the nearly 40 people in attendance.

All but three of the individuals who addressed the commissioners were
opposed to the ban, citing the medical benefits of cannabis and asking
the commissioners to respect individual rights.

"I am a patient advocate in Montezuma County," said Jamie McBeth. "As
a private caregiver and a private patient advocate, I see the need for
these operations. They help patients."

Kim Hernandez, a cancer patient, addressed her need for medical
marijuana, pointing out the improbability of an individual being able
to supply all their own needed medication.

"I'm 47, and I've battled both sides of it," Hernandez said. "I didn't
want to try it because I wasn't that kind of person, or what I thought
was that kind of person. My husband and my oncologist really kind of
forced me into doing it, and today I'm grateful that they did. It has
helped me.

"If the dispensaries aren't there and you just allow me to grow six
plants, what happened when I run out or when the plant isn't at the
right stage for me to harvest it?" she asked. "Where do I go then?
Unless it is commercialized I don't have other options."

Many comments offered Monday focused on the potential economic benefit
to the county through the operation of commercial medical marijuana
facilities and the dangers of forcing patients to the street in an
effort to obtain marijuana.

"People are going to find their medicine wherever they can, guys,"
said Shawn Stevenson, an employee at Medicine Man, a dispensary in
Cortez. "Be it on the street corner or they will drive to Durango and
La Plata county will see the revenue. You have the chance to allow
these operations and help people out."

Dale Kirkman, owner of Buckethead, a dispensary in Dolores, pointed to
the professional nature of his business and the necessity of a growth
site in the county.

"I came to this town, and my whole life savings is sunk into my
business," Kirkman said. "I bought a farm, and I run a professional
grow operation in the county. If you take this away you are forcing
that 90-year-old who needs it to go on the street and be robbed and
beat up and hurt. There is no control (on the streets). If you throw
us out, you are going to the revenue that could have been the county's."

Sheriff Gerald Wallace pointed out that Montezuma County does not
collect sales tax, and therefore would see very little economic gain
from the medical marijuana industry.

"It would cost the county money," Wallace said. "The only income would
be the one time fee to start up your business, but then the county
would have to hire someone to go out and regulate it all. Until the
state gets off its rear and gets organized, I think we are going down
a dangerous road."

Wallace also cited the inability of law enforcement to regulate
drivers who are under the influence of marijuana as there is no
mechanism for determining level of impairment as with alcohol.

Also opposed to the growth of the medical marijuana industry in the
county was Glenn Darnall, who relied on personal experience to guide
his opinion.

"My exposure has been the dark side of marijuana and illegal drugs,"
Darnall said. "I've seen what it did to our eldest daughter who
started with marijuana and became a hard drug user and addict, and
I've seen the impact on business. I am adamantly opposed to drug use
of any kind, and it should be noted that (marijuana) is still illegal
from a federal standpoint."

Commissioners spent 30 minutes discussing the issue before voting on
the resolution.

"The problem I see is the state here has copped out," said
Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer. "For us to start licensing a medical
product, which we don't license any medical product whatsoever. Never
has the county, or any county in the U.S. done that. We have no way to
control the quality of any of these products, and that's where the
problem is in my mind."

Koppenhafer also noted the potential legal implications of the county
participating in licensing and regulation of the medical marijuana
industry.

"To me it is just sticking Montezuma County's head out to get it
chopped off," Koppenhafer said. "If something goes wrong, who are they
going to sue? They will sue Montezuma County because we licensed it. I
can't go there knowing the things I know."

The necessary increase in the size of government required by
regulating a new industry was a concern voiced by Commissioner Steve
Chappell.

"I don't believe in increasing the size of our government," Chappell
said. "This would just be another form of bureaucracy with regulations
and regulators. It would be a burden on our sheriff's department. The
state handed down a very poor option to our county and cities."

With the adoption of Resolution 07-2010, the Montezuma County
Sheriff's Office is now responsible for enforcing the ban throughout
the county.

"If we have a report that someone has a grow operation, we will jump
on that pretty quickly," Wallace said. "That will be our
responsibility."

The ban was not taken lightly by dispensary owner Kirkman.

"The sheriff's office is probably going to be raiding my house in the
next few hours," Kirkman said. "I'm going to have to pull up my
plants. I will go to another state. I will go to Oregon or somewhere
that is more understanding."

For more information, contact the Montezuma County Administration
Office at 565-8317.