PASSAGE OF 2B NOT THE END OF AURORA'S DISPENSARY DEBATE

AURORA | Medical marijuana dispensaries will not be springing up in
Aurora anytime soon.

The final tallies for Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties show that
voters in Aurora decided to prohibit dispensaries within city limits
by a margin of 42,347 to 39,224.

The outcome is disappointing for medical marijuana advocates who say
patients should have easy access to dispensaries in each city. But
for others, it is a relief that dispensaries will not be cropping up
near their homes.

Aurora resident Dan Bloom voted to prohibit dispensaries because he
said there is so much uncertainty about them.

"I don't want them here in Aurora just because we don't know what
it's going to do to areas of town since they're so new," he said. "I
have lived in Aurora most of my life, and I think we get a bad rap
sometimes, so jumping into this really quickly might not be the best thing."

Bloom said dispensaries could possibly lower property values, and he
doesn't want to risk that. Those who have medical marijuana
prescriptions can visit one of the myriad dispensaries in Denver, he said.

He's not against having medical marijuana dispensaries within city
limits at some point in time, but he says the city should wait to
allow them until they have specific rules and regulations in place
that will govern their operations.

"I believe that there's revenue to be had from the dispensaries, and
if, five years down the road, laws are cleared up aE& then we can get
into it at that point," he said. "Jumping in later down the road
isn't going to hurt us as much as jumping into it quickly and finding
out that it has a negative impact."

Aurora resident Pat Dunn says medical marijuana dispensaries would
have been a boon for the city in terms of generating revenue.

"We're closing down libraries because we don't have revenue, and that
could have been a solution right there," she said.

Dunn also knows some medical marijuana patients that could have
benefited greatly from a local dispensary. But the issue of whether
to allow dispensaries in the city is far from over, she said.

"Hopefully a few years from now people will see that there aren't
problems with crime and understand that people truly do need medical
marijuana," she said. "I think the people that voted against it are
just afraid that if medical marijuana is in the city of Aurora that
we're trying to get it legalized for everyone, and that's definitely
not the case."

Brian Vicente, a lawyer and executive director for the medical
marijuana advocacy group Sensible Colorado, said the outcome is "very
disappointing."

"It's not only bad for patient access to medicine, also, voters of
Aurora have turned down new tax revenue and job creation in their
community," he said.

When Aurora City Council members decided to put the issue on the
ballot earlier in October, city attorneys advised council to stay as
close as possible to the ballot language that the Colorado
Legislature suggested municipalities could use. The ballot asked
voters whether they wanted to prohibit dispensaries in the city,
without giving any information about where the dispensaries could be
located if they were allowed. It was the city attorney's hope that
lawsuits could be avoided by following the Colorado Legislature's directives.

Medical marijuana advocates are now focusing their attention on
cities that originally allowed dispensaries and then subsequently
voted to ban them within city limits, such as Westminster, Loveland
and Montrose, Vicente said.

A lawsuit was filed in August against the city of Westminster, which
passed a dispensary ban in November 2009, although there were two
dispensaries operating within city limits before the ban. However, a
judge has delayed the hearings until January or February of next year.

The Westminster lawsuit is being dubbed "the test case" for cities
statewide that attempt to ban dispensaries within city limits.

Voters in nine other municipalities and counties approved marijuana
dispensaries within their jurisdictions, including the cities of
Fraser and Minturn.

"It was certainly a victory for the nine municipalities who are now
allowing regulated medical marijuana sales," Vicente said. "But
generally, Colorado voters did not endorse this regulated model
widely and I think that's due to a lack of education on the safety
and benefits that these things can bring to the community. I think
that view is going to develop and evolve over time as communities
realize that medical marijuana can be safely regulated and generate
much needed tax revenue for communities."