Central City, Colo. — Don Boring owns a grocery store, a liquor store and now, a medical marijuana dispensary. The main difference among them is that he has to produce his own pot inventory.
Colorado set a Sept. 1 deadline for dispensaries to show they grow at least 70 percent of the pot they sell – the first requirement of its kind in the 14 states, along with Washington, D.C., that have medical marijuana laws.
Lawmakers added the requirement to Colorado’s new law in hopes of keeping small-time caregivers from growing pot in their basements to sell to dispensaries.
Boring knows the types well. When he opened Annie’s Dispensary last spring, he got so many visits from caregivers trying to sell him pot that he came up with a name for them – “guys on bicycles with backpacks.”
Boring doesn’t see those guys anymore.
“The days of the guys on the bicycles with a backpack selling marijuana are over, and I think that’s a good thing,” Boring said.
Lawmakers who supported Colorado’s new pot law hoped the grow-your-own requirement would force shadowy corner pot shops to close and alleviate fears that the marijuana fueling Colorado’s pot industry is coming from illegal sources. Lawmakers wanted to keep better track of how medical marijuana is produced.
But dispensary owners complain the growing requirement is confusing and impossible to enforce.
For one, the law isn’t clear on how pot shops arrive at the 70 percent figure. Is it 70 percent by weight? Is it determined by the month? By the day? And what about pot shops barred by zoning from adding a growing operation? The law isn’t clear, and pot shop owners have a lot of questions about how the growing requirement will be enforced.
“It’s the equivalent of requiring a grocery store to produce 70 percent of its own corn. You’re asking a retailer to also become a producer,” said Brian Vicente, head of Sensible Colorado, a marijuana-legalization advocacy group. Vicente serves on a state advisory panel trying to clarify how the pot law’s requirements will work. “Nothing about this requirement is clear,” he said.
State authorities say it could be a year before pot shops know how the growing requirement will be measured. A month ago, Colorado received 809 applications for marijuana center licenses, though state officials say it will be next July before it will start awarding the licenses.
Matt Cook, the senior director for medical marijuana enforcement for the Colorado Department of Revenue, said the state received an additional 309 applications for “infused product” manufacturing – think pot brownies and such. The state also received 1,219 permit applications for “premises cultivation,” or growing pot.
All combined, the state has collected $8.2 million in application fees for the three types of licenses, Cook said, with the money to be used to set up a new state office to regulate the nascent pot business.
Dispensary owners say the state must be joking if it thinks it can keep track of all medical marijuana.
Take a single marijuana plant, Boring explained. Some plants produce one ounce of smokable marijuana, while others are capable of producing 10 ounces or more, depending on how well they’re cared for. So what keeps an unscrupulous marijuana center owner from claiming to be raising more pot than he is?
“How are they going to know? Are they going to come check on my plants every day? It doesn’t make sense at all,” Boring said. “It’s just going to be impossible to enforce.”
Veronica Caprio, owner of 420 Highways in Idaho Springs, complained that the vagueness of the state’s growing requirement forces many dispensary owners to lie. She says many are still mapping plans to grow enough pot to supply their patients.
“It’s too broad for me to honestly answer,” she said of the growing requirement. “Do I think I can get to 70 percent? Absolutely. Can I produce it right now? Hell, no.”
Danyel Joffe, a Denver lawyer who specializes in advising medial marijuana business owners, says other states are watching to see how Colorado attempts to enforce its growing requirement.
“No one has tried anything like this before on this scale,” Joffe said. “We’re going through the birth pains of a whole new industry. I’m telling my clients to grit their teeth and stick through it.”
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
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I live in denver and work at a hydroponic store there’s no way to control pot growing its taking over
Sorry if you took offence Brian. The news articles are syndicated from elsewhere though, they aren’t written by us.
Whats up with all the “POT” talk I dont sell pot and most other centers dont either we sell a medicine that helps people .I wish if you want to post or discuss this matter you would give the patients the courtisouy of calling it Medical Marijuana. Thank you
Im a bit confused just reading this article, but like alot of requirements, whether state or county wide, it sounds like another one that will be impossible to regulate on an accurate basis. How do they come up with these 70% numbers that owners would have to produce, why is okay for the other 30% be bought from private medical patients or co-ops. It seems with this kind of thinking that these stores should eventually be able to stock their dispensary from liscensed growers just like they would stock there products carried in their stores. Should private medical patients begin to apply for actual business liscenses/permits to grow their medicine purely for the purpose of selling it to these store/dispensaries just like any other business. My friend out here in California just went to work down in bay area for a company that is growing on a huge scale, designed to supply large scale superior medicine to a number of dispensaries, just to apply for the permit was $250,000.00 with no refund if the permit was rejected, although this particular permit was allowed and I believe is the first of its kind atleast in the greater bay area. I have heard that there are others in the same process of applying, with some already have been rejected once and are still putting up another 250k to try again. I wish I had more information about this business operation but my friend has just started working there about a month ago, so I dont have all the details quite yet, but its the biggest legit medical operation I know of. Im just a private medical patient that grows enough for myself, I personally would like for my situation to just stay the same and I truely believe if we all were in it just to grow our medicine for ourselves or those who dont have the means, we wouldnt have so many problems, we all know theres way too many people out there trying to get rich, when at this point isnt what California Prop.215 is all about. Thats not to say in the future that it shouldnt become a legitimate business, because I do believe that med. marijuana is absolutely one of the safest medications available these days. I hate to compare it to alcohol or tobacco cause neither are any sort of medicine, but alcohol kills people in tons of different ways every year, its severely addictive when abused and has absolutely zero medical value, although most of us all enjoy a few drinks to relax and have a good time, but alcohol is flat out dangerous. When you look at tobacco, which Im currently addicted to Copenhagen, its primary component (nicotine) is one of the most addictive substances that we allow any one over 18 to buy and consume, once again absolutely no medical value and kills millions each year with its cancer causing ingredients. The one and only thing I can honestly question about marijuana “smoking” is no doctor can ever recommend inhaling combustible materials into our lungs, long term use can cause respiratory issues, but as far as I know doesnt/hasnt ever been proven to cause any sort of cancers, it actually helps those patients who do have various types of cancer with pain, appetite stimulation and overall better quality of life. Im sorry to start ranting, but its simply ridiculous to have any sort of stigma attached to marijuana, regardless of the facts that we already legally allow our citizens to use products that kill millions each year. Just to clarify I dont think everyone should start using MJ and its 100% safe, we do have to take precautions like not driving under an excessive influence, recognizing any sort of decreased lung function and use appropriate ways of ingesting thc accordingly. Personally Ive had severe asthma since I was 2yrs old, I used marijuana recreationally for years, almost always smoking it without any signifigant problems to my lungs. Ive since started using vaporizers and concentrated cannabis for healthier consumption, but for someone like me to use it for 20yrs without one single episode of an emergency, makes its nearly impossible for it to have chance of doing signifigant damages to ones lungs, I could breathe in cigarette/cigar smoke and have treatments or even hospital visits, although rare, it has happened, Ive never once because of cannabis and thats not any sort of exaggeration, but like I said I have chosen to find healthier ways of ingestion just so down the road I dont have any more lung damage than my asthma has already caused. I know Im way off topic but its so black and white for me, although I know its complicated for most to figure out how all money is going to get dispersed, but its “high” time for our common sense country to take a look at the laws and figure out that marijuana isnt even as dangerous as tobacco, I mean McDonalds is 1000x more harmful than cannabis, thats not even a joke, but I wont go into that. I wish all the residents of Colorado the best of luck, fight for your rights to use this plant that was put on our earth for a purpose, it helps each individual in its own unique way and with some serious scientific research who knows how deep the rabbit hole could go for the uses and flat out miracles could be awaiting for those serious ill patients out there. Remember the people of this country have all the power when united, we cant worry so much about the profits but rather the incredible benefits cannabis could have on our culture, we just have to realize there are tons of big companies that are extremely threatened by the possibilties of cannabis or even more so the hemnp industry and what it could do to traditonal fabric and fuel giants. Peace and Good luck to everyone, Happy Growing all.