SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Garfield County sets deadline for medical marijuana regs"

Nelson Harvey:
"GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The Garfield Board of County Commissioners has set itself a June 18 deadline to approve land use regulations for medical marijuana growers in the county.

The commissioners are required to approve zoning rules before July 1, when a two-year countywide moratorium on medical grow facilities expires. The commissioners enacted the moratorium in 2010, and let voters weigh in on three medical marijuana related questions in November of that year.

Voters approved allowing medical marijuana growers in unincorporated areas of the county, but rejected dispensaries and manufacturing of marijuana infused products.

Although Commissioners Tom Jankovsky and John Martin seemed ready to move forward with regulations at their Monday meeting, Commissioner Mike Samson expressed reservations.

Jankovsky said he had seen medical marijuana start to “trickle down” and become available to local young people.

“I share Mr. Jankovsky's concerns about the youth of this county very much, and I have grave concerns,” said Samson.

Commissioners considered several questions about where grow facilities should be permitted to locate, including their proximity to local schools, parks and places of worship. They also discussed whether to allow grow facilities in parts of the county zoned “rural,” and whether grow facilities in Garfield County would be permitted to sell their products through dispensaries in other counties...."
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SandBoxBlogs: CNBC "Risky Business, Even in Pot-Friendly States"

On this Earth Day 2012, the subject of legalizing marijuana is set for activists rallies all over the nation.

Let's toss up a few of the mostly pro-pot articles all in one post.

First up, CNBC's Chris Morris:
"Whether the grower is licensed or not, pot is still a risky business in states that have approved its use for medicinal purposes.

Take California. While the state has had medical marijuana dispensaries for more than 15 years, it remains a target for federal law enforcement officials, where the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested nearly 8,500 people for marijuana-related offenses between 2004 and 2010.

California's hardly alone. Several other states with dispensaries have seen an increase in both arrests and the confiscation of marijuana plants. However, a look at DEA records shows what appears to be an uneven enforcement policy among pot-friendly states over the past several years.

For example, while arrests and eradication in California climbed fairly steadily in the seven-year time frame, they remained essentially flat in Maine. Colorado, meanwhile, saw a reversal in both trends halfway through the time period.

Americans for Safe Access, which advocates the legalization of medical marijuana, says the Justice Department has conducted nearly 200 raids on dispensaries and growers since President Barack Obama took office....."  (Read more?  Click title)

Aspen Times:  "The pot trade grows up.  One man's story from the Western Slope's pot trade:

"Here in Colorado, reefer madness stems to big and small towns alike. At the University of Colorado at Boulder, thousands will gather for an annual “smoke-out”; in Denver, thousands of others will participate in the two-day High Times Medical Marijuana Cup, bringing the newest and most popular pot strains from medical dispensaries around the country to compete for awards and prizes.

But as the adoption of medical marijuana under Colorado state law in 2001 has spearheaded the incorporation of hundreds of dispensaries — putting Denver on the map for more medical marijuana centers than Starbucks — it appears that the pot culture no longer revolves around a teenybopper image of a couple of kids meeting outside the school grounds to get high but around the business model of the dispensaries and the regulated oversight of the entire pot trade — from seed to plant, from farmer to caretaker, from caretaker to patient.

In a mission to track down the methods behind Colorado's most elusive industry, I was fortunate to speak with Pete Tramm, owner of Locals Emporium for Alternative Farms (L.E.A.F.) in Aspen, who unlike most in his line of business, talks as if he has nothing to hide...." (Read more?  Click link) 

Reuters: "Colorado lights up pot debate by blazing regulatory trail"

"DENVER (Reuters) - At a Denver dispensary for medical marijuana, state inspector Mark Brown makes his usual checks, verifying that employees wear name-tag licenses and the video surveillance system works.

The store is a laid-back place with a popcorn machine, a "Reefer Madness" movie poster and plenty of pot, sold both mixed into candy and as buds.

Brown mingles with the staff, among them a tattooed man rolling joints in a side room. Fellow inspector Paul Schmidt, formerly an undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, checks on the facility's marijuana-growing operation.

A small group of customers, including an elderly woman with purple hair and some more conservatively dressed young adults, are choosing from a dizzying array of pot products. There are marijuana strains with names such as "Bubba Kush" and "Buddha's Sister" as well as pot-infused brownie mix and gum balls.

"What you see here is an industry coming from underground above ground," Schmidt said of Colorado's move to regulated marijuana cultivation and dispensaries."  (Read more?  Click link)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: Denver Post "Feds: Colorado medical-marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of a school must close"

So it begins.

Wonder what the City of Glenwood Springs is going to do now that we move closer to federal closures and prosecutions of marijuana based industry?

At the very least one would think our city council would be bringing the subject up to the people.  Sounds like a good thing for Mayor Pro-Tem Leo McKinney to start tackling.

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Pitkin County to review thinking on medicinal pot"

Just imagine.

If the medical marijuana industry in the State of Colorado has as much to fear as they do from the undeniably strongest Democrat we have ever had in President Barack Obama.

Just imagine.

What's going to happen, how fast and hard when that crackdown from the Feds is being handled by a conservative administration?


“The statute's pretty clear: The local authority wherever a medical marijuana business is operating must provide us with some approval — that they're OK with medical marijuana being cultivated, used in infused products or sold within their jurisdiction,” she said.

Without an approval for each specific business, the state will deny an application for a state license, she said.

That potential ramification — ending a business's ability to operate — prompts the commissioners' call for a full briefing on the issues, according to Commissioner Rachel Richards, who chairs the board.

“I don't think it was the county's intent — that that occur by default,” she said.

Though the Jan. 17 meeting is not a formal public hearing, Richards said she'd like to accommodate feedback from affected business operators during the discussion.

The topic has been dormant since spring, when the county drafted detailed regulations for the medical marijuana industry. Commissioners ultimately shelved them in June, however, after Ely pointed out that dealing in medical marijuana remains a violation of federal law even though it's permitted in Colorado. Asking county employees to issue licenses to marijuana businesses and enforce zoning laws related to medical marijuana puts them in a position of potential criminal liability, he said at the time..."
(Janet Urquhart)

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SandBox Comments: KKCO 11 News "Crackdown Coming? "

"DENVER (AP) -- Federal authorities are considering a crackdown on medical marijuana businesses in Colorado in the first sign that a coordinated offensive against the industry that started in
California is expanding.

A law enforcement official tells the associated press that such an enforcement action is under consideration for early next year in Colorado. the official spoke on condition of anonymity..."

(KKCO)

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SandBox Comments: Steamboat Today "Judge dismisses medical marijuana case against Aurora doctor"

"The Arapahoe County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the most recent dismissal, saying it has not yet decided whether to appeal.

Attorney Lauren Davis, who represented Aquino-Villaman, said both cases show a hostility toward medical marijuana by prosecutors in the 18th Judicial District, which includes Arapahoe County.

To read the full story, click here."

(via Steamboat Today)

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Thousands of Colorado marijuana applications on hold"

"DENVER — Some 4,200 medical marijuana applications in Colorado are on hold at the state health department while investigators look at possible fraud.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced Friday that marijuana registry applications from certain physicians are on hold after law enforcement officials witnessed potential patients being seen by someone other than a physician. Colorado law requires a "bona fide" doctor-patient relationship before a physician can recommend marijuana pot for certain ailments..."


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SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Commissioners verify medical marijuana grow operations"

SandBox keeps asking the questions: 

"How long can this placing by elected officials of small businesses into high risk go on?"

"How much longer can these small high-risk businesses be allowed to violate federal laws (and) why are taxpayers forced to cover all the costs of handling all the fall-out?"

John Stroud:
"Chris Busley, co-owner of CMD Care House, informed the commissioners Monday that the lease for his original growing facility along County Road 100 east of Carbondale ran out, and he has since relocated.

“My business has always been forced to move ahead of the rules,” he said, asking for clarification that he would be allowed to continue to operate the grow facility in the new location.

County officials confirmed that the operation could continue, but there are no guarantees once the new zoning regulations are approved.

“If the time comes that we have the zoning in place, and your location isn't within that zone, we will have to look at it,” Commissioner Mike Samson said.

To which Busley responded, “There are a lot of risks associated with what we're doing. We're all aware of that....”

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: KJCT News 8 "State's MMJ Employees to Unionize"

Surely, they must be joking.

What a potential quagmire this will be if they're not.

With the chaos surrounding everything to do with Medical Marijuana in Colorado, one would think more common sense would prevail.

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident." 

SandBox Comments: "Glenwood Springs to require fees for medical marijuana businesses"

“We've been waiting to see what the impact was from the new regulations,” Rippy said. “Now is the right time to convene a community group.”
(via Glenwood Springs Post Independent)


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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."