Summit County Citizens Voice

New state medical marijuana law prompts local moratoriums, including Breckenridge.

Town won’t issue any new licenses for dispensaries and grow operations for nine months

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Breckenridge this joined the medical marijuana bandwagon that’s been rolling through Colorado by enacting a nine-month moratorium on issuing licenses for new dispensary and grow operations in town. The moratorium is effective immediately and does not affect existing medical marijuana operations.

According to a press release from the town, some council members are concerned about the number of dispensaries in town. The town was also facing a possible flood of applications prior to a July 1 deadline established by a new state medical marijuana law. The moratorium will enable the town to update its regulations based on the new state law.

This moratorium will allow the Town to study the effects of state laws as well as the rapidly growing industry in Colorado, and will allow the Town to make any needed changes to the Town’s existing ordinance in light of the new state laws.  The Council recognizes that this is a unique industry as possession of marijuana remains a federal offense, and feels it is in the best interest of the community to further study the recently-adopted state laws.

The one-year moratorium on new licenses was adopted to give state agencies and local jurisdictions time to draw up new regulations. The state law will require a complex rule-making process on the part of the state health department and set up a huge new bureaucracy in the revenue department to administer fees, licensing and inspections, somewhat similar to the system in place for liquor stores.

The new law also includes provisions that will benefit patients and caregivers, according to Marijuanapatientadvocates.com, including:

* Patients are now allowed to grow their own medicine AND name a MMJ Center or primary caregiver. (page 62 lines 4-5)
* “Higher Plant Count” recommendations in excess of 6 plants now recognized by Health Department. (page 65 line 25 – page 66 line 3)
* “Infused Products Manufacturer” allowed to sell to any licensed MMJ center in the state without patients registered to the infused products manufacturer’s name. (page 41 lines 19-21)
* “Infused Products Manufacturer” allowed to grow all medicine needed to make their products. (page 40 lines 16-23)
* Requires the Dept of Health to create a formal policy to add new conditions to the MMJ registry. (page 57 lines 12-15)
* Encourages Colorado banks and credit unions to work with our industry. (page 38 lines 19-21)

Click here to see the line by line references.

Read a Summit Story about how the new state law might play out in Summit County here.

Read about Summit County’s decision to extend its moratorium on medical marijuana here.

Filed under: Breckenridge town council, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Breckenridge, Breckenridge town council, medical marijuana, medical marijuana moratorium, Summit County, Summit County Colorado, Summit County News