STATE, COUNTY AND CITY ALL REGULATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY

Last year, the state Legislature mandated that the Department of
Revenue write regulations for the medical marijuana industry,
including several provisions specified in the bill that included the
mandate.

This month, though a clarifying bill to tweak the law was passed by
the Legislature, the DOR issued those rules in a 73-page document.

The rules aren't - and won't be - universal across the state, however.
The state law allows counties and municipalities to regulate
dispensaries within their own borders as they see fit, and even ban
them if they wish.

Though neither Colorado Springs nor El Paso County has gone that far,
each has added to the state laws. The new ordinances will go into
effect Friday.

HIGHLIGHTS

At the state level:

Dispensaries must grow at least 70 percent of the marijuana they
sell.

Dispensaries must obtain business licenses from the DOR, and no new
business licenses will be issued until July 1, 2012.

Owners and employees of dispensaries must undergo background checks,
and anyone with a felony conviction within the last two years is
prohibited from owning or working at a dispensary.

Dispensaries must have extensive security systems and surveillance
cameras.

Caregivers must register with the state, cannot grow more than six
plants, and are not allowed to have more than five patients.

At the city level:

Dispensaries must obtain a city license as well as a state
license.

Caregivers cannot display marijuana signs outside their offices, or
sell marijuana-infused products such as food.

No dispensaries are permitted in residential areas, and dispensaries
must be at least 400 feet from schools, child care facilities, and
drug or alcohol rehab centers.

Dispensaries cannot be operated in a way that "adversely affects the
public health."

At the county level:

Dispensaries must be at least 500 feet from any school, public park,
college, church, rehab center, child care facility or residential
area, unless otherwise specified by municipalities, such as Colorado
Springs, which requires only 400 feet.

Dispensaries with connections to growers outside the county will not
be licensed.

To get a license, dispensary owners will first have to poll nearby
residents and businesses to see what they think.