COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Medical marijuana has one of Colorado’s most conservative counties in a haze.
The commissioners in El Paso County, home of religious juggernaut Focus on the Family, tabled a proposal Tuesday to give voters the option this November to ban medical marijuana centers in unincorporated parts of the county.
The decision to postpone the matter until Aug. 26 came after more than five hours of impassioned pleas from medical marijuana entrepreneurs who insist their business is good for the county. They also say it would be unfair to shut them down after they’ve invested money and followed the rules to operate.
Law enforcement officials and residents also appealed to the commissioners to give El Paso County voters a chance to say their piece, 10 years after Colorado 2000 approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Residents say no one could have foreseen the explosion of medical marijuana centers in the last few years.
“The voters did not, we did not anticipate all these pot shops on every corner,” said Stephanie Fisher, who described herself during her testimony as a “concerned mother.”
“Now I have to explain to my 11-year-old daughter, you know, ‘What is this Canna Mart?'” Fisher said.
El Paso County is not the only place in Colorado struggling to deal with the rise of medical marijuana centers since a new state law gave municipalities the option of banning medical marijuana centers.
The new rules also include new licensing requirements for the businesses, including having business owners undergo a criminal background check. Convicted felons would be barred from operating a medical marijuana center.
Medical marijuana proponents and business operators have threatened lawsuits challenging the new law.
Aurora, Colorado’s third largest city, has already decided to give voters the choice this fall of banning pot shops.
The town of Superior in Boulder County has already moved to outlaw the businesses. So has the city of Broomfield and Vail, a ski town west of Denver. Last month, Weld County permanently banned new medical marijuana centers from opening in unincorporated parts of the county.
Colorado is one of 14 states that allow the use of medical marijuana.
“The majority of the citizens who call the sheriff’s office to complain are complaining over the fact that his isn’t what we bargained for,” said Joe Breister, the law enforcement bureau chief for El Paso County, who is a supporter of a county ballot measure to stop medical marijuana businesses.
El Paso County is the biggest local government in Colorado yet to take on the issue. The county’s proposed ballot measure would affect an estimated 21 operating centers in the unincorporated parts of the county and dozens more with pending applications, said Mark Gebhart, the county’s land development and code administrator.
Gebhart said Colorado Springs, the county seat and Colorado’s second largest city, has 451 approved or pending medical marijuana licenses. That’s the next place opponents want to address, said Steve Wind, who is leading a group trying to get a ballot question banning the pot businesses in April.
