Regional
(2010-02-09)
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DENVER, CO
(KUNC) -
In Denver, a couple dozen owners of medical marijuana dispensaries spent most of their day Monday applying for the city's newly-required Medical Marijuana license.
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It's part of a package of new, tougher regulations passed by the city council last month.
Justin Pearson, co-owner of the Prematorium dispensary, arrived promptly at 7:30 AM just as the Denver Bureau of Excise and Licenses opened. By 11, he was still awaiting some paperwork.
"It was a $5,000 dollar processing fee which we thought it was only $2,000 today for the fee, and $3,000 once we were approved," he said, in an interview outside the bureau.
Still, Pearson said he didn't mind paying it all up front, because he's confident the license will be granted. Others might not be so lucky.
"And I think it's good, it'll do a lot of weeding out of the people that are in it for the wrong reasons," he said.
The Prematorium is in a neighborhood near Coors Field where numerous dispensaries have opened in recent months. It's "grandfathered" in, meaning it already had a sales tax license before the city's new regulations were passed. So it doesn't have to comply with space and school setback requirements.
But Pearson does still have to apply for an official license. And he says he's excited about the new regulations, because he says they will bring medical marijuana more in line with other taxed products such as alcohol and pharmaceuticals.
"It can't just be a free for all and everyone out there doing what they want to do," Pearson said. "There has to be some structure to this and make it more legitimate and bring it out of the shadows."
About half of the applications processed by the department yesterday were from existing dispensary owners like Pearson.
The rest were from people wanting to get into the game. The proliferation of dispensaries in Denver lately has been eye opening, but the scene at this department was surprisingly subdued. There wasn't exactly a flood of applicants on opening day.
"Honestly we were expecting more," said Penny May, the bureau's director.
"But we know that our process is working, and that we're able to do the intake and get people printed and on their way," she said.
The process is working here so far. But it's not clear how all of this will be affected by actions just up the street.
Lawmakers at the state capitol this week will hear the second of a pair of bills aimed at cracking down on medical marijuana. Representative Tom Massey's measure is billed as being heavy on local control. It would allow cities to ban dispensaries outright if they choose. It would also transform a dispensary into a non-profit health center.
"It's going to be an economic thing. I mean obviously the ones that are viable can possibly survive," Massey said. "The ones that aren't, won't."
Pro-pot groups are already threatening to go to the ballot this fall, should the bill pass in its current form.
Massey acknowledges it's not popular with everyone.
"It's a pretty tenuous balance we've struck to get here," the republican said. "
"It's a compromise, nobody's truly happy with it, which means we must be on the right track," he added.
Back at the Bureau of Excise and Licenses, dispensary owner Justin Pearson isn't focusing too intently on the pending state legislation.
"That's what our attorney is for," he says.
For now, Pearson says all of the talk and the debate around pot is evidence that the public tide is shifting toward legalization of the drug.
"And for the good," he says. "There are a lot of people out there that are in jail for marijuana, people's lives are getting ruined over a plant that grows on our earth that people want, and people like and people enjoy, and sick people need."
Pearson says it's business as usual at his dispensary, even while his license application is being processed. The city didn't give him an exact window for an answer. But the city council-imposed application window closes March first.
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