While still illegal under federal law, the voters of Colorado passed a Constitutional Amendment permitting the use and distribution of medical marijuana.  In 2009, the U.S. Attorney General decided to cease using DEA resources on the prosecution of those parties who were not in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.  Since this decision, medical marijuana dispensaries blossomed throughout Colorado, with more than 600+ medical marijuana dispensaries state-wide, 300 of which are located in Denver.  In fact, there is one at the end of my block.

The City of Denver, and District 1, needs reasonable regulations designed to monitor, enforce and manage this exponential growth of medical marijuana dispensaries.  We need the patients, doctors, citizens and law enforcement to have a uniform understanding about what is permitted and what is not.

On January 11, 2010, the Denver City Council adopted new regulations in response to the large proliferation of medical marijuana dispensary growth locally, with the intent to license and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the interest of public health, safety, and the general welfare.  These regulations include, among other things: a $5,000 application fee; requiring background information about all owners of each operation, including previous license denials, felonies within the previous 5 years and complete criminal histories; a detailed security plan that requires the usage of a safe alarm system and 24-hour cameras on-site; and limitations on medical marijuana dispensary locations by prohibiting dispensaries in residential zoning, within 1000 feet of any school or child care establishment and within 1000 feet of another medical marijuana dispensary.  In some cases, however, there were grandfathered exceptions to these regulations.

I strongly support the regulating and taxing medical marijuana dispensaries.  Safety is one of the largest concerns, particularly for residents of District 1.    I think we need to complete a detailed analysis of the impact of the current city regulations.  We need to understand what provisions are working, which are not, why some provisions are not working and what possible unintended consequences have occurred due to these regulations.  Once we have completed this analysis, we can effectively adjust and add regulations to solve those outstanding problems.