Yet Another Scheme Threatening Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Introduced

The waters have been muddied yet again in Colorado's quest to establish sensible regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries with the unveiling of a new bill by state legislators. Perhaps unsatisfied with the scope of their first bill which sailed through the Senate, legislators are going back for more, this time forcing all dispensaries serving more than five patients to reorganize themselves into non-profit "wellness centers." The bill would also require medical marijuana dispensaries to grow their own marijuana, effectively eliminating freelance grow operations who are not affiliated with large dispensaries.

Predictably, the bill is being sponsored by the usual suspects -- Senator Romer and Representative Massey -- who see this as a middle-ground between an outright ban on dispensaries (as Massey has proposed) and less rigid regulations (as Romer has proposed). The problem for dispensaries is not the movement to some mutually acceptable middle ground between these proposals, but the introduction of a whole new category of poorly thought out limitations.

Removing the profit motive from the medical marijuana industry by forcing MM dispensaries to reorganize themselves as non-profits is a patently ludicrous idea that will deprive patients of access to medicine and vastly reduce the windfall in tax revenues that state could otherwise expect.

Non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries are perhaps a good idea in theory, but lack the real-world incentives -- namely profit -- that have spawned the dramatic proliferation of dispensaries throughout Colorado. Devoid of the potential for profits, entrepreneurs and innovators in the burgeoning medical marijuana dispensary industry will stay away, causing shortages of medical marijuana and limiting access.

The state will likewise pay a severe penalty for forcing larger medical marijuana dispensaries into its ill-conceived non-profit model. For-profit dispensaries promise significant tax revenue for the state at a time when budget cuts are threatening even basic services. Taxing medical marijuana and the profits of MM dispensaries would offer Colorado a tremendous opportunity to realize significant economic gains.

So far the bill has yet to be officially introduced for consideration. Initial reaction to the Romer-Massey plan has been skeptical, leaving both anti- and pro-dispensary advocates unhappy. We hope that more intelligent heads prevail in what is sure to be a contentious debate.