Boulder already may be running out of room for medical-marijuana businesses.

In mapping out the 82 medical-marijuana growing facilities and dispensaries now licensed in Boulder, city officials say even relatively loose permanent regulations would mean the industry has nearly reached its saturation point.

The city expects to take up permanent regulations in February and March.

In November, the City Council enacted emergency rules outlining where dispensaries can operate, requiring new shops to stay at least 500 feet away from areas with three or more existing marijuana businesses, and 500 feet away from schools and day-care centers.

"It appears that most areas in the city's three major activity centers (University Hill, Boulder Valley Regional Center and downtown Boulder) are approaching saturation," a city memo reads. "North Boulder and industrial areas in the eastern portion of the city have also seen an increase in the number of applications and are nearing saturation."

City officials say the short-term regulations have put a halt to dispensaries and growing operations lining the streets one after another, but the rules don't affect the 63 businesses that applied for sales-tax licenses before Nov. 6. Those businesses -- some of which are clustered in areas downtown and on University Hill -- would likely be allowed to stay where they are under permanent regulations.

The new map compiled by the city shows that room is running out in the main business corridors. Because the temporary rules also prohibit dispensaries from operating in residential areas, there are few choice locations left.

"The interim regulations are achieving the goal of ensuring that we don't have an over-concentration" of dispensaries, said David Driskell, Boulder's executive director of community planning and sustainability. "There's no more room in

Boulder received the bulk of its applications for medical-marijuana businesses late last year, after decisions at the state and federal levels made it easier for them to open and operate.

If Boulder were to adopt rules similar to those approved earlier this week by the Denver City Council -- which outlined a 1,000-foot buffer between medical marijuana shops -- there would virtually be no additional shops allowed on University Hill or along the Pearl Street Mall. There is also a fast-shrinking availability of space around the 28th Street corridor and in northwest Boulder.

No decisions have been reached about how big of a buffer Boulder should have, but it will be part of the discussion when the Boulder Planning Board takes up the matter next month, Driskell said.

The city also is relying on feedback from the public as it forms long-term rules. Just a few days after posting a survey online asking for input, at least 90 people have logged their thoughts.

Boulder officials declined to provide copies of the feedback, saying they are part of a work product.

Pierre Werner, owner of the DrReefer.com dispensary, at 1121 Broadway on University Hill, said the city would unfairly be restricting competition -- or business expansion -- by permanently imposing minimum distances between shops.

"I think it limits competition, and it limits patients' choice," Werner said. "I believe in competition and the American enterprise -- entrepreneurs. I'd rather it go that way than have the government tell you, 'No, you can't open a dispensary within 500 feet, but in 501 feet you can sell all the medical marijuana you want."

Werner said he has the largest Boulder marijuana dispensary, at 3,000 square feet. But he still wants to expand, and he's worried that if the city does leave spacing restrictions in place, he'll have to wait for other businesses to shut down or move.

"I'm hoping to just take over whenever someone leaves the building," he said.

(Article source: www.coloradodaily.com)

( December 23, 2009 - The Denver Post )

DENVER—A man accused of trying to rob a medical marijuana dispensary in Denver is now charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Denver prosecutors said Wednesday that 21-year-old James Leyva also is charged with second-degree assault, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and three counts of attempted aggravated robbery in what police describe as an attempted holdup with shots fired Dec. 16.

Police say there have been at least 25 robberies or burglaries related to medical marijuana since July, with 13 of those involving dispensaries. The others were in homes.

Leyva is jailed on a $150,000 bond. It is unknown if he has hired a lawyer. He is due to be formally advised of charges against him Monday.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_14058194#ixzz0aYZ6YpYH

(Source: Westword.com - Oct 2009) By Joel Warner

Calling Professor Pot!

The explosive growth of Colorado's marijuana dispensary scene is sooo September 2009. The next big thing, it turns out, is marijuana institutes -- organizations designed to help folks makes heads or tails of the heady medical marijuana scene.

The development is a no-brainer. The state's medical marijuana law is so vague -- it doesn't mention dispensaries at all -- that every dispensary in town keeps a lawyer on retainer to help them stay on the up-and-up.

More often than not, that attorney is one of three Denver legal mavens who've created a lucrative dispensary-consulting industry for themselves. The triumvirate includes Warren Edson, one of the organizers of the state medical marijuana amendment; Brian Vicente, executive director of the drug-policy reform organization Sensible Colorado; and Robert Corry, a prominent local civil-rights attorney.

Now these lawyers have taken their business one step further -- by starting or associating themselves with official-sounding institutions offering services to dispensary owners and marijuana patients. Here's the breakdown:

• Medical Marijuana 101 LLC: The first of the bunch, this is Warren Edson's baby. Calling itself "Colorado's premier medical marijuana educational center," the operation hosts $300, all-day classes around Denver -- the first half a primer on state marijuana law hosted by Edson and the second half a cooking and growing tutorial led by "Hans," a well-known pot connoisseur. The operation's website notes recent sessions have been sold out and some students had to be turned away.
• Canna-Business Institute: Just launched by Brian Vicente and his colleagues, the Canna-Business Institute is, according to Vicente, "devoted to providing quality training and education to individuals interested in working in the burgeoning medical marijuana industry." In other words, a pot-themed vocational school. Upcoming seminars will cover everything from accounting to bud tending to knowing your legal rights. They cost $300 to $500 each.
• Cannabis Therapy Institute: More of an advocacy organization than the other organizations, the Cannabis Therapy Institute has been making a lot of noise lately, encouraging dispensaries to self regulate, launching an "Always Buy Colorado Cannabis" campaign and even hosting a marijuana health fair. Robert Corry's associated with many of the institute's programs, and he's the only Denver-based medical marijuana attorney listed on its website.

(Source: Westword.com - Feb 2009) By Joel Warner

Behind a locked, unmarked door in a Colorado Springs strip mall, the state's largest marijuana dispensary is open for business.

The operation's aromatic showroom is packed floor to ceiling with pot and anything and everything related to it. "Welcome to Cannabis Therapeutics. Intended for prescribed medical use only!" announces a large sign on the wall.

Glass cases display Baggie upon Baggie of pot — 35 varieties in all. Those looking for cheap medicine can go for the $250-an-ounce, bargain-basement Holland's Hope or upgrade to $300-an-ounce Thunderstruck or $400-an-ounce Purple Haze. Big spenders can opt for top-shelf meds such as a crop of Chocolate Chunk priced at $500 an ounce. It's all available to buy loose or ready to smoke in pre-rolled blunts. And, for green thumbs, cloned marijuana seedlings sit in a bubbling tray of water, waiting for the right buyer.

Today an older woman is here buying some Silver Skunk to help ease lingering pain from a shattered right femur she suffered in a car accident, as well as recurring migraines and fibromyalgia. "I don't like marijuana, but I have no choice," she says as she pays part of her $136 bill in cash and puts the rest on a debit card.

A mother in a track suit leaves her teenage daughter pouting in the lobby while she shops; a younger fellow in baggy jeans and a hoodie samples some Mexican True Blue.

A staffer is ready to help newbies who've just coughed up their $25 annual membership fee establish what mixture of sativa and indica, the two core strains of medical marijuana, is appropriate for their particular illness. For multiple sclerosis, it's best to go with a cross breed that's at least 65 percent indica, known for its relaxing physical high. Sufferers of debilitating stress, on the other hand, typically opt for sativa, which provides more of a mental high.

To administer the medicine, there is a smorgasbord of colorful glass pipes and bongs available, courtesy of a Manitou Springs glass blower. For those who don't want to smoke their determined dosage, there are vaporizers to help clients inhale it, as well as THC pills, THC oils, THC butter, THC fudge, ice cream, bubble gum, hot chocolate mix, cheese, fountain drinks, roll-on pain relievers and bubble bath. Stashed away in a cabinet are jars filled with marijuana marinating in Don Julio and Cazadores tequila.

"It's not about getting high," says Michael Lee, the owner of Cannabis Therapeutics. "It's about getting medicated." Lee founded the operation three years ago under the auspices of Colorado's Amendment 20. The constitutional amendment — approved by voters in 2000 — allows people with cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, muscle spasms, severe pain, severe nausea and other medical conditions to use marijuana.

With a recommendation from a licensed Colorado doctor, patients can obtain a state-issued Medical Marijuana Registry identification card to show to police — though it does nothing to change the fact that the federal government still considers marijuana illegal. Patients may cultivate their own medicine or designate a primary caregiver to provide it for them. Lee and his colleagues at Cannabis Therapeutics, for example, are designated caregivers to more than 600 patients around the state.

This arrangement has proved lucrative: Lee, 44, says his dispensary earns about $105,000 a month, $75,000 of which he says goes back out the door for more monthly product. This onetime owner of a Colorado Springs flooring company insists, however, that his current occupation is more than a business.

"I clinically died. I can't lie. I won't lie," he declares, gesturing to a faded news clipping on the wall. It describes a car crash years ago in Santa Barbara, California, in which a young passenger was killed, and notes that "the driver, Michael Lee, 19, suffered head and internal injuries, and his condition is listed as critical."

After being clinically dead for 41 minutes and spending eleven days in a coma, he turned to marijuana for healing. Years later, lingering pain and muscle spasms led Lee, who is also a member of local mega-churches New Life and Radiant, to become one of Colorado's first certified medical marijuana patients, and he soon found himself helping other people who used marijuana for pain and illness. Now there's no more established operation around for getting medicated.

Lee has signed contracts with seven Colorado growers — all legal under Amendment 20, he promises, because they're registered caregivers for some of his patients. Each grower provides him with roughly a pound and a half of dried marijuana per month. Cannabis Therapeutics is also insured, says Lee, who convinced his insurance agency to design a dispensary policy just for him.

He also has a good relationship with the Colorado Springs police, having invited them in for a tour in 2006 after the cops caught wind of the operation.

"It was very educational," says Lieutenant Catherine Buckley of the visit. "It was not something the officers see on a daily basis."

When the Environmental Protection Agency poked around in response to a complaint about alleged chemical dumping, they couldn't find a single health or safety violation. All in all, says Lee, who goes by the nickname "the Herbologist" on websites like www.rollitup.org and www.weedtracker.com, everything here is square with Amendment 20. After all, his lawyer, Warren Edson, co-authored the law.