At first glance, it might seem surprising that a place like Fort Collins would be contemplating a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.
It is a college town, after all, and while not as liberal as, say, Boulder, it still is a place that you might think would tolerate dispensaries.
The fact that more than 7,000 citizens signed a petition supporting a prohibition of dispensaries sends a cautionary message.
Those who have perceived state- approved regulations on dispensaries to be a green light for widespread development had better think again.
As of this spring, some 75 Colorado towns, either by council or voter action, have banned retail outlets for the sale of medical marijuana and in some cases cultivation and manufacturing of edible products.
Another fact that is becoming increasingly apparent is that dispensaries are being concentrated in a handful of cities, including Denver, Boulder and some mountain towns.
Though these businesses may seem comfortably ensconced in these towns, there is nothing to stop voters from going to the polls to ban them.
In Fort Collins, where voters will take a crack at banning dispensaries in November, there has been plenty of community outrage over the city’s 21 licensed locations.
At a recent City Council meeting, Patrick Albright, a member of the Poudre School District board of education, said drug use and expulsions have increased since dispensaries opened, according to a newspaper account in The Coloradoan.
Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith likewise points to increases in marijuana-related incidents since dispensaries arrived.
You don’t need a vivid imagination to envision a few bad incidents spawning citizen-driven bans elsewhere.
This all stems from what we see as a distortion of the voter-approved state constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana for seriously sick people.
In 2000, there was no public discussion about retail pot outlets, or the wink-and-nod atmosphere that now exists in which thousands of people have claimed chronic and debilitating pain in order to get medical marijuana registry cards.
No one is fooled by this, and that most definitely includes voters.
Those who live in Fort Collins will have their say on whether dispensaries will exist in their town, but it’s unlikely to be the final word in Colorado on this controversial issue.
