To allow medical marijuana dispensaries or not to allow dispensaries in Las Animas, that is the question. Mayor Lawrence Sena, City Attorney Mark MacDonnell, Police Chief Don Trujillo and Las Animas City Council members Elizabeth Ybarra, Clarice Ratslaff, Janice Cline, Janice LaSalle and Mike Diez held a public forum to discuss the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries and to get public input on Thursday evening in the high school auditorium. The crowd was very small, about 10 or 12 citizens of Las Animas, Sugar City dispensary manager Tina Stanley, and one reporter.
Mark MacDonnell, city attorney, outlined the provisions of HB 10-1284, which legalizes medical marijuana in Colorado. Las Animas, much like other communities in the Arkansas Valley, had postponed the issue with moratoriums. Action needs to be taken now, because if no action is taken, in July 2011 the state rules will be in effect. A community may choose to ban dispensaries or to allow them by vote of their city council, or the matter may be decided by ballot in a regular or special election, and the results of that vote may be either binding or non-binding on the city council. MacDonnell said the question is what role the local government should take: do the people want a total ban or do they want the local city council to set up the rules. Individual cities may impose their own rules, but they must be at least as strict as the state regulations or stricter (for instance, said MacDonnell, the state might say no dispensaries within 2500 feet of a school, but the city might say no dispensaries within a mile of a school).
He further explained the provisions of the state bill, which may be viewed online through www.leg.state.co.us or commj.net (has copy of bill). A licensed medical marijuana patient may have under cultivation six plants, three in bloom. A caregiver must be 21 years of age and may serve five patients. There are at present 40 licensed patients in Bent County. A person, even though licensed, may carry no more than two ounces of marijuana.
The citizens were interested in what an ounce of marijuana looks like. Stanley supplied the information that it is what may be contained in a small sandwich bag, approximately.
Another member of the audience, a woman who works with social services, was concerned about children in the households of users of medical marijuana. Stanley told her she was advised to keep all substances under lock and key. However, her circumstances as a dispensary manager are different from those of a typical medical marijuana patient.
One man stood at the microphone to assure the group that users of medical marijuana are not criminals nor addicts, but ordinary people.
The conclusion was that there was not a sufficient number of citizens present to form an idea of the consensus. The Las Animas City Council decided at the August council meeting on Tuesday evening that the council will decide to make the decision of what to do with the medical marijuana issue in a future council meeting, however, council members encourage the citizens of Las Animas and Bent County to contact any council person by calling 456-0422.
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To allow medical marijuana dispensaries or not to allow dispensaries in Las Animas, that is the question. Mayor Lawrence Sena, City Attorney Mark MacDonnell, Police Chief Don Trujillo and Las Animas City Council members Elizabeth Ybarra, Clarice Ratslaff, Janice Cline, Janice LaSalle and Mike Diez held a public forum to discuss the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries and to get public input on Thursday evening in the high school auditorium. The crowd was very small, about 10 or 12 citizens of Las Animas, Sugar City dispensary manager Tina Stanley, and one reporter.
Mark MacDonnell, city attorney, outlined the provisions of HB 10-1284, which legalizes medical marijuana in Colorado. Las Animas, much like other communities in the Arkansas Valley, had postponed the issue with moratoriums. Action needs to be taken now, because if no action is taken, in July 2011 the state rules will be in effect. A community may choose to ban dispensaries or to allow them by vote of their city council, or the matter may be decided by ballot in a regular or special election, and the results of that vote may be either binding or non-binding on the city council. MacDonnell said the question is what role the local government should take: do the people want a total ban or do they want the local city council to set up the rules. Individual cities may impose their own rules, but they must be at least as strict as the state regulations or stricter (for instance, said MacDonnell, the state might say no dispensaries within 2500 feet of a school, but the city might say no dispensaries within a mile of a school).
He further explained the provisions of the state bill, which may be viewed online through www.leg.state.co.us or commj.net (has copy of bill). A licensed medical marijuana patient may have under cultivation six plants, three in bloom. A caregiver must be 21 years of age and may serve five patients. There are at present 40 licensed patients in Bent County. A person, even though licensed, may carry no more than two ounces of marijuana.
The citizens were interested in what an ounce of marijuana looks like. Stanley supplied the information that it is what may be contained in a small sandwich bag, approximately.
Another member of the audience, a woman who works with social services, was concerned about children in the households of users of medical marijuana. Stanley told her she was advised to keep all substances under lock and key. However, her circumstances as a dispensary manager are different from those of a typical medical marijuana patient.
One man stood at the microphone to assure the group that users of medical marijuana are not criminals nor addicts, but ordinary people.
The conclusion was that there was not a sufficient number of citizens present to form an idea of the consensus. The Las Animas City Council decided at the August council meeting on Tuesday evening that the council will decide to make the decision of what to do with the medical marijuana issue in a future council meeting, however, council members encourage the citizens of Las Animas and Bent County to contact any council person by calling 456-0422.
