A BAN ON MMDS FORCES CITIZENS TO SEEK AID OUTSIDE OF REGULATIONS

The Town of Windsor is currently facing a citizen-initiated ban of
medical marijuana centers and their various aspects.

This proposed ban would eliminate dispensaries, cultivation
facilities, and infused products from being able to exist within the
town.

The ordinance to ban was initially brought before the Windsor Town
Board on Aug. 9 by recently-retired ex-town board members Nancy Weber
and Michael Kelly. The town board voted on whether or not to
immediately enact this ban, ultimately choosing not to enact the ban.

As a result, the proposed citizen ban was referred by default to the
Nov. 2 ballot for the citizens to vote on. In Harmony Wellness opened
its doors in June 2009 and has operated without incident since that
time. It is one of the two dispensaries currently existing in Windsor
that this ban, should it pass, would shut down.

When the initiative to ban was brought forth, the town board had just
completed and passed a carefully-constructed ordinance regulating the
different factions of cannabis within the town, a task they undertook
with a critical eye in the interest protecting the community.

This regulatory ordinance took the board more than nine months to
draft and was set to go into effect on Sept. 4, 2010. Instead, and as
a result of the citizen proposed ban, an emergency moratorium remains
in effect until the voters decide this issue on Nov. 2.

If the ban is voted down, the ordinance previously drafted by the town
board will immediately take effect for the two existing businesses in
town. Part of the ordinance mandates that only two dispensaries may
hold licenses within the town at any given time.

The proposed citizen-initiated ban was formally protested on Sept. 10
on the grounds of fraudulent circulating practices. Testimony was
given at the protest hearing that the petition was presented to
prospective signers in a confusing and unclear manner, ultimately
causing many of those petitioned to sign when they, in fact, did not
support a ban on dispensaries. A decision regarding the integrity of
the circulating practices is to be handed down within five days time.

Though there have been several medical marijuana center and
cultivation 'bans' proposed or enacted around the state at the local
town or county level, Windsor is the first community to actually bring
about a citizen-initiated ban.

The short of the issue is:

1. Banning dispensaries simply means banning regulated
cannabis.

This is not a proposed ban on cannabis. It is merely a ban on safe
access to medical cannabis within the town. It does not change the
fact that there are 300-plus citizens of Windsor who are legal medical
cannabis patients registered with the state. These patients who reside
in the town of Windsor are utilizing the convenience of the reputable
local dispensaries that currently provide safe, regulated access.

These 300-plus patients/Windsor residents will continue to have a
right to their medicine whether Windsor citizens ban dispensaries or
not.

True, it's likely some of these patients will trouble themselves to
make the cost- and time-prohibitive drive to Fort Collins when it's
necessary to obtain their medication, but even if half of them do,
that still leaves over 150 legal patients who will still have a state
constitutional right to have access to their medicine with no
regulated option within their community.

The only option left will be to turn to individual caregivers who will
grow unregulated and under the radar out of their homes, or for
inexperienced or sick patients to attempt to grow their own.

According to the state constitution, these patients may have six
plants actively being grown for them at one time. That translates to
the equivalent of 900 plants being grown in the Windsor neighborhoods.
If everyone chose that option, Windsor neighborhoods would bear the
burden of potentially 1,800 plants grown under a constitutional right
UKP179-138? in a neighborhood near you.

2. Medical marijuana centers are set up to be highly-regulated and
licensed by the Town of Windsor as well as by the state and are, in
fact, the only sure way to track the bulk of the medical cannabis
activity bound to take.

Systems of tracking and accountability have already been put into
place by the state, and were ready to be put into place on Sept. 4
within the Town of Windsor until the issue of the citizen-proposed ban
came up. Accountable dispensaries allow for a system of regulating the
medical cannabis patient community in Windsor and beyond in an easy,
traceable way without extra cost or burden to the taxpayer. In fact,
just the opposite is true.

3. Banning dispensaries will cost taxpayers money. In the regulated
model of medical cannabis, as proposed by the Windsor Town Board, the
town makes money on the increased tax revenues and fees.

In the regulated model, when any problem arises, it can be followed to
its origin through a series of carefully tracked checks and balances
by the regulatory agencies in place. Should the citizens of Windsor
actually choose to ban medical cannabis, there is sure to be an
increased impact in the neighborhoods of the community as a result of
leaving only unregulated access available to patients within the town
as a means to obtain and manage their medicine.

There will of course be an increase in police visits to check up on
these unregulated grows, which are much more difficult to control.
More police visits means more taxpayer dollars spent. As well, this
can open the door for issues such as fires (from inadequate wiring
required to support high intensity lights), molds (improper
ventilation procedures can lead to a host of problems, including
mildew and mold not ideal for landlords or unsuspecting new home
buyers), and the smell will not be governed by minimum regulations
like it is in any commercial operation that must answer to the state
and the town to maintain licensure in good standing.

4. Abuses that occur within the system will be dealt with at the legal
level. Many people are concerned with the validity of "easy to come
by" doctor recommendations or of medical cannabis falling into the
hands of those not legitimately licensed. Law enforcement and
regulatory agencies are equipped and able to deal with these issues
when the lines are crossed.

Legitimate, regulated medical cannabis centers are the easiest and
most effective way to track and control access.

Citizens who make an informed choice on this issue will understand
that the true good that medical cannabis does is worth providing
access to the 300-plus Windsor citizens who are currently using
cannabis to effectively treat specific health conditions which improve
the quality of their daily lives with little to no side effects.