RULES FOR MEDICAL-POT STORES MAY CHANGE AGAIN

County Commissioners Say Voters Sent A Clear Message To Keep Dispensaries

EAGLE, Colorado -- With a clear mandate to keep the county's medical
marijuana dispensaries open, county officials are now starting to
work on how to regulate those businesses.

In response to a 2009 boom in the business, the Eagle County
commissioners that year passed a set of zoning regulations that
effectively limited the marijuana dispensary business in the county
to the five businesses that had already opened. In fact, if any of
those businesses had to move from its current location, the
regulations wouldn't allow any of the shops to re-open.

Armed with a new set of state regulations passed this year, -- and
now with voter approval of keeping dispensaries open -- officials are
ready to start work on revising the existing regulations.

That effort started Monday during the commissioners' regular Monday
work session, which was attended by the county's attorneys and the
directors of the community development and environmental health departments.

Commissioner Sara Fisher told the group she'd like new rules to
"re-visit" how to perhaps bring the existing shops into compliance
with the county's regulations. Fisher added that it's also time to
look into regulations about growing marijuana for personal use.

County Attorney Bryan Treu said all those issues could be discussed,
but he discouraged the idea of putting a cap on the number of
dispensaries that would be allowed to operate.

County officials will schedule a work session sometime in December to
look into more concrete ways to regulate and license the
dispensaries. But, Commissioner Jon Stavney said, those new
regulations will allow dispensaries to stay open.

"A strong majority of voters approve of this, and I have no intention
to thwart that."

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How we voted

For (keeping dispensaries open): 8,028. Against: 6,404.