 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Planning for an Uncertain Future, Part Six |
| Bill Hudson | 7/28/10 |
|
| Back to the News Summaries |
|
Read Part One
“We’ve also heard from the Pagosa Springs police chief, who said he has not found any evidence that there has been an increase in crime due to medical marijuana centers. And that would also include possession tickets and people caught smoking in public. If he has not found that, then I don’t see how there is any harm in allowing something that is going to be here [in Pagosa Springs]. It’s not going to be stopped; it’s going to become more readily available and open to the public.
“I think now is the time for you guys to say, ‘We’re going to regulate this, and this is how it’s going to be done.’ It’s going to benefit the lives of [medical patients] here in Pagosa, and it’s also going to benefit the economics of this county.”
A young gentleman — I heard his name as “John Loden” — stood at the microphone at last Thursday’s Town Council meeting and made his best case for sensible, open-minded medical marijuana regulations here in Pagosa Springs.
The state of Colorado is currently locked in a struggle with its own constitution, and that struggle is causing ripples of anxiety down the chain of command to the town and county governments — who, as is typical in modern America, feel compelled to write some new law or regulation whenever something unexpected happens.
 When the voters of Colorado approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 2000, nothing much resulted from that constitutional amendment because the federal government continued to classify cannabis indica and cannabis sativa as harmful and illegal Schedule 1 drug “with no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” A person caught “trafficking” in medical marijuana — selling the leaves of a cannabis plant to a sick person — could be charged with a federal crime and locked up for “not more than five years.” (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration website.)
But when the Obama administration announced in 2009 that it would no longer harass and shut down medical marijuana businesses in the U.S., the Colorado constitution blossomed into life, and medical marijuana businesses began to open their shops in cities and towns throughout the state.
Amendment 20 had guaranteed patients the right to acquire and use marijuana as a medicine, and expressly allowed them to have another person grow their marijuana for them — but had not clarified the existence or regulation of store fronts, the “marijuana pharmacies” that were now sprouting up like weeds.
The reaction of the Pagosa Springs Town Council was a six-month moratorium passed last October, prohibiting the operation of marijuana dispensaries within the Town limits. That municipal moratorium was extended last spring to allow the state legislature to create some regulatory laws. Those complex and confounding laws are now on the books, singed by Governor Bill Ritter on June 7, and the Town Council last Thursday had at least three possible paths to follow: outlaw dispensaries permanently, begin writing some regulations that would allow dispensaries in certain parts of town, or continue the moratorium.
The young gentleman at the microphone had suggested some kind of economic benefits?
According to estimates by one local medical marijuana user here in Archuleta County who has been following the issue closely, there could be 300 medical marijuana users in Pagosa Springs within the next year or so. We might already have than many. The simple fact is, many patients find marijuana more effective and less addictive than the pharmaceutical drugs they’ve used in the past.
If those 300 patients spend an average of $300 a month on locally-grown marijuana — marijuana grown here in Archuleta County — that would mean an annual infusion of over $1 million into the local economy.
If the Town Council and County Commissioners decide that we have no use for marijuana dispensaries (or, as they are legally named in Colorado’s new law, “medical marijuana centers”) then that $1 million will be spent, I presume, in Durango or elsewhere in Colorado.
$1 million is not a lot of money. I realize that. Certainly, it’s not enough to replace the steadily declining sales tax revenues that have left the Town unable to maintain its five downtown parks at optimum levels, nor fix its crumbling asphalt streets or its broken sidewalks.
But in a failing economy, one might suppose that every little bit of economic activity helps.
At Thursday’s meeting, Council member Stan Holt made a vigorous argument that marijuana businesses did not belong anywhere in Pagosa Springs. Over the past months of discussions at the Council, Holt has argued that the “medical” part of the term “medical marijuana” is largely a ruse, and that most “medical marijuana” users are in fact scamming the system and using the drug for recreational purposes.
“With tourism as our primary industry, and with our tourists coming from conservative areas of the country, I think we would do ourselves immeasurable harm if we allowed marijuana businesses in our community. I don’t think the sales taxes would be significant. I’m in favor of Option 1.”
Option 1, as presented moments earlier by Town planner James Dickhoff, was to “prohibit medical marijuana businesses.”
Option 2 was to extend the moratorium.
Option 3 would be to allow the Town voters to decide the matter, either through a special election this year, or at the next regular election in 2012.
“The fourth option would be to allow medical marijuana businesses,” Dickhoff explained. “And if that’s the direction you want to head, just give staff some direction and we will start working on regulations.”
Council member Jerry Jackson countered Holt’s arguments with some thoughtful discussion.
“Certainly this is a delicate issue. I would hope that we would not bring marijuana’s historical status as an illegal recreational drug into this conversation.
“Over the past six years, I’ve done a lot of study on nutrition, and prescription drugs versus nutritional and more natural drugs. I know that the side effects of pain-killers are, in my opinion, far more detrimental than marijuana, for someone who is using it as a pain-killer or for a medical purpose. There’s no question about that. Many prescription pain-killer drugs have rebound effects, that make it extremely hard for someone to get off of those drugs — and that’s no coincidence, on the part of the drug companies.
“I have a few friends and acquaintances who users of medical marijuana in this county, and I can tell you that each and every one of them is an upstanding citizen; there is nothing on their part of them conveying it on to someone else, or other games being played. They need this medicine. And I would personally see them on marijuana than on prescription drugs.
“There are some things that have come about, just since the last time we looked at this moratorium — facts about dispensaries being on Main Street and things like that. I don’t see any harm in extending the current moratorium, and I think I would go for Option 2.
”I think medical marijuana is here. I don’t think the budget is a large concern. But I’m in favor of Option 2.”
A few minutes later, and in spite of public testimony in favor of allowing marijuana businesses, the Council voted in favor of extending the current moratorium.
Which brings me now to last night’s joint Town and County Planning Commissions meeting.
I’m personally fascinated by the way all these seemingly separate issues — joint community planning, medical marijuana, recreation and parks funding, zoning, industrial development, road maintenance, long term care of the elderly — act like different pigments that each contribute their hue to one big, community painting. (I actually haven’t touched on the “long term care of the elderly” part yet, but that will be coming up in a future installment, don't worry.)
Over the past four years, the Town Council and Board of County Commissioners have begun meeting together on a fairly regular basis. I can still recall a comment made at a joint Town-County meeting about five years ago, by then-County-commissioner Mamie Lynch, when she commented that she’d never heard of the County and Town sitting down at the same table and discussing the community’s needs.
If I am not mistaken, another historic event occurred last night at the Pagosa Springs Community Center — the Town Planning Commission and the County Planning Commission sat around the same table and talked about the future of Pagosa. Specifically, the two commissions talked about ways to align County and Town land use codes and zoning designations, so that a developer planning a project here would have only one set of rules to learn. The two commissions also discussed the eastern edge of downtown, where a large 384-acre development has been proposed across the San Juan River from the stagnant Mountain Crossing development.
And yes, this all ties in, like one big painting. Mixed-use zoning designations, light industry, elderly care, medical marijuana — all just parts of a somewhat anxious plan for an uncertain future.
Read Part Seven... |
|
|
|
|
| Visit the Pagosa Daily Post |
| |
Master carpenter Dan Englund has numerous references available; please contact us for a list of satisfied clients. Dan also has a large photo collection of past projects for you to view, and would be happy to meet with you to discuss your custom building needs.
DanEnglund.com is pleased to present these brief
samples of the outstanding custom staircases, doors and fine custom homes and commercial projects by
master carpenter Dan Englund. Dan lives in Pagosa
Springs, located about 60 miles east of Durango, Colorado. His custom building team serves all of Colorado and the Four Corners area of New Mexico and Utah.
|
|
