CANNABIZ

Medical Marijuana News Of The Week

A zone of their own

Though most of the pro-medical-marijuana crowd arrived at Colorado
Springs City Hall at 1 p.m., Tuesday, the city's first MMJ zoning
guidelines weren't decided until after 8:30 that night. But it was
worth the wait: Council voted 8-0, with Councilor Randy Purvis absent,
against strict guidelines recommended by the city's Planning Commission.

According to advocates, 64 centers could have faced closure for being
located within 1,000 feet of child-care facilities, seminaries and
various other types of institutions.

But Council dropped the buffer back to 400 feet as it was in its
initial draft, removed public and private preschools, as well as
collegiate campuses, from the regulations, and struck the added
requirement that a center only be allowed to use a certain amount of
its space for growing. It also added a grandfather clause protecting
all existing centers (except in residential neighborhoods), while
saying those that closed in a particular zone would not be able to
reopen.

"We're a 'conservative city,' but I'm just proud of the city, that
instead of just shutting the door and saying, 'No, we're not gonna
deal with this,' we are dealing with it," said Councilor Sean Paige,
who co-chaired an MMJ task force that began the process of regulation
in late 2009. "And we're dealing with it in a rational way that's
respectful of people's rights and also respectful of other people in
the community who are concerned."

Not all were happy with the looser regulations. A spokeswoman for the
Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs requested that churches,
synagogues and mosques be included in the proposed 1,000-foot buffer
zone. Also, UCCS administrator Brian Burnett, speaking for UCCS and
Colorado College, made sure to mention the pair's combined $300
million budget when asking to be included in the 1,000-foot buffer.

House in order?

A Tuesday phone conversation with Department of Revenue spokeswoman
Julie Postlethwait revealed that, two weeks ago, the DOR visited 97
centers across Colorado that, for a variety of reasons, failed to
register paperwork certifying 70 percent of marijuana was grown in-house.

"We went and did checks on every entity that had not filed the
necessary paperwork, and we're in the process of conducting those
investigations," she says. "Everyone that was visited will be
receiving a letter letting them know of our findings, and the expected
outcome, and they will have the opportunity to respond."