City Council: No Need for Weed in Alamosa

ALAMOSA -- Although not unanimously, the Alamosa city council this
week approved on first reading and set for public hearing on December
15 an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in the city
limits.

The same two councilors who voted against moving forward with the
prohibition ordinance during the council's last meeting voted against
the ban during the December 1 meeting. Councilors Marcia Tuggle and
Charles Griego voted against the ordinance.

Voting to approve the ordinance on first reading and go forward with a
public hearing were Councilors Leland Romero, Rusty Johnson, Josef
Lucero and Mayor Kathy Rogers. Councilman Greg Gillaspie, who had
voted for the ban during the November meeting, was not present Wednesday.

City Manager Nathan Cherpeski reminded the council it had directed
staff to come forward with an ordinance prohibiting the retail sale of
medical marijuana.

"This does not prohibit individuals with cards from having it or
growing it themselves," he said. "It's simply prohibiting the retail
end of that."

Councilor Tuggle said she was struggling with the idea of totally
prohibiting marijuana facilities.

"The reality is they are part of what Colorado voters have approved,"
she said. "They are part of what the county of Alamosa has approved."

She said prohibiting dispensaries in the city would not keep people
from using medical marijuana. It would just make it more difficult for
people who legitimately have a need to find a place they could obtain
it without having to travel someplace.

Tuggle said she believed it would be better for the city to enact a
restrictive ordinance than to ban it. She said only a few locations in
the city would fit the state's restrictive guidelines anyway.

"It would be better for us to have some control," she
said.

She said the city could also reap some economic benefit from sales
tax.

Councilor Griego agreed. He repeated the argument he made last month
against the ban. He said the voters within the county, including
county residents who live in the city, voted in November to allow
medical marijuana dispensaries in the county.

Councilman Johnson said he was sympathetic to people who honestly need
medical marijuana, but since there is a dispensary in the county, "I
am satisfied they can get that if they need it. It is available to
them."

Councilor Lucero agreed. "People have options," he said. "There's a
facility in the county. Do we need more than one facility or two or
three? Do we have to have one in the city? I don't think so."

Mayor Rogers said, "The need is being met ... We have got it available
for people who need it in the county and maybe we just don't need to
have it in the city."

Griego said without two or three dispensaries, there could be 200-300
people out there growing their own.

Alamosa Police Chief John Jackson said it is easier to manage a few
locations than a few hundred.

"Right now it is very unmanageable. It is one of the hardest things
for law enforcement to deal with right now," Jackson said.

Griego suggested extending the city's current moratorium that ends at
the end of this month.

Romero said the city had already extended the moratorium repeatedly
and it was time to act. He said he was in favor of banning it, and he
would feel the same way about it later.

Tuggle said she did not see the harm in extending the moratorium or
tabling the issue. She said she understood the county commissioners
wanted to meet with the city on this issue, and she felt the city
council owed the county that courtesy.

City Attorney Erich Schwiesow said he understood the purpose of
meeting with the county would be to coordinate ordinances so the city
and county ordinances would be consistent, but that would not be
necessary if the city was not going to adopt an ordinance permitting
medical marijuana dispensaries in the city limits.

Schwiesow said if the city council decided to extend the moratorium,
it would have to go through the ordinance process with a first and
second reading, and there would not be enough time to do that before
this current moratorium expires unless the council had a special
meeting. If the moratorium expired before the council acted on its
next step, someone could apply for a license, he added.