Councilman Brown Puts Forward Next Draft of Bill to Regulate Denver Dispensaries

Councilman Brown Puts Forward Next Draft of Bill to Regulate Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

The Safety Committee of the Denver City Council is considering Charlie Brown's latest legislative proposal.

Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown has transformed himself in recent weeks from an opponent of medical marijuana dispensaries to an advocate of sensible and fair regulation. The latest draft of his bill to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver is now before the Council's Safety Committee. Though passage in its current form is far from certain, we are likely to see some variant of this bill go before the full Denver City Council in the next few weeks.

A fascinating live-blog courtesy of Westword gives a first-hand account of the dealmaking and negotiations within the Safety Committee as they debate Brown's bill. So far, the major planks of Brown's proposal remain in place. There seems to be general agreement that medical marijuana dispensaries must be regulated, but as in all things, the devil is in the details. Here's a look at the contentious issues raised in the Safety Committee's meeting:

1. Dispensary security - The original language of Brown's first draft has been toned down. Police will no longer be able to seize footage "on a whim" and the identity of people pictured in the footage will remain private unless subpoenaed by a court. Should cameras be mandatory? Brown sticks with his original contention that they should, but Councilman Linkhart disagrees, arguing, "If they have valuable stuff, they'll protect it."

1. Background checks for dispensary owners - All sides seem to agree that convicted felons should not be permitted to own, in full or in part, a medical marijuana dispensary.

1. Dispensary locations - Councilmen agree dispensaries must be located at least 1000 feet from schools or daycare facilities. At issue is when such a provision should take effect and whether dispensaries that opened in the last few weeks - that is, after debate on the issue began - should be grandfathered in and allowed to remain in their current locations. The Committee finally agrees that all dispensaries in operation before January 1, 2010 will be grandfathered in.

1. On-site consumption - The Committee agrees that on-site consumption of medical marijuana, regardless of whether it's smoked, taken in food, or vaporized - is to be forbidden.

1. Dispensary hours - The Committee votes to change the hours during which a medical marijuana dispensary may operate from 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM.

1. Cultivation - After much debate, it is decided simply to apply standard zoning rules to dispensaries regarding cultivation. That is, the presence of a few plants would not be an issue, but the presence of a large grow operation for medical marijuana may violate agricultural zoning laws and will be dealt with accordingly.

1. Food and labeling - How should the city ascertain the purity of medical marijuana and how should food containing it be labeled? The Committee agrees to streamline the language in the bill. "Otherwise," Nevitt says, "we're in the food business."

1. Licensing - The Committee members debate the application deadline of March 1, 2010. Some believe it is too restrictive, while others believe maximizing restrictiveness is the point of the rule. The issue will be brought to the full City Council.

The legislation will be sent to the mayor and city council next week, with the first reading scheduled for January 4th and a public hearing scheduled for January 11th.