Broomfield bans medical marijuana businesses - Boulder Daily Camera

Broomfield bans medical marijuana businesses

By Michael Davidson Camera Staff Writer
Posted: 07/27/2010 10:34:35 PM MDT

BROOMFIELD -- Medical marijuana businesses will be banned in Broomfield effective Aug. 8, following the City Council's 8-2 vote to ban dispensaries and cultivation facilities.

The decision came Tuesday night after 37 Broomfield residents testified in a lengthy public hearing. Supporters of the ban outnumbered opponents by a margin of 3-to-1.

The vote is intended to be the city's final word on an issue that arose in September 2009, when the city received its first application from a medical marijuana dispensary that sought a business license.

Colorado voters gave residents the right to use marijuana to treat debilitating medical conditions in 2000, when Amendment 20 was added to the state constitution.

Council members who supported the ban on medical marijuana dispensaries said their vote was not on the merits of medical marijuana or the social impact of the drug. Nor was it an attempt to keep Broomfield residents from exercising a right protected by the state constitution.

"Anyone who interprets this vote as rendering opinions in that regard would be misguided," Councilman Todd Schumacher said. "Nothing about the ban will prevent someone from legally obtaining medical marijuana."

Council members backing the ban noted that patients and caregivers could grow their own small amounts of marijuana or obtain it from dispensaries in neighboring cities.

Councilmen Sam Taylor and Bob Gaiser voted against the ban.

Taylor said cities such as Denver and Boulder might have let the number of dispensaries get out of control, but Broomfield could come up with smarter policies.

"I have firm belief in our regulatory system that we could do better than that," Taylor said. "I'm not in favor of having a ban, I'm in favor of having control."

While council members narrowed their focus to dispensaries, many residents who provided testimony spoke to broader issues.

Some of the ban's supporters said they fear dispensaries will make it easier for children to obtain and use marijuana.

"I don't want Dr. Reefer next to Safeway when I'm going shopping with my kids," Dan Bradfield said.

Don Larsen argued the dispensary system was something voters could not have anticipated a decade ago. Advocates of marijuana legalization were using the amendment to further their own ends, he said.

"We've seen massive exploitation of that sense of compassion, which brought us to where we are today," Larsen said. "I simply don't believe that we're that sick as a state."

Opponents of the ban focused on the needs of patients.

Banning dispensaries just puts obstacles in the way of seriously ill patients, said Laura Pionke. She said she had firsthand knowledge because her best friend was a medical marijuana user before succumbing to an AIDS-related illness.

"We're not discussing legalization, we're discussing access to medication their doctors recommended," Pionke said.

The vote at least clarified the law, Chuck Teeples said. Teeples operates North Metro Caregivers out of his home in the Front Range Mobile Community.

Resolution was needed because nobody knows "what's safe or what's not," Teeples said.
copobo Reviewed by copobo on . Broomfield bans medical marijuana businesses Broomfield bans medical marijuana businesses - Boulder Daily Camera Broomfield bans medical marijuana businesses By Michael Davidson Camera Staff Writer Posted: 07/27/2010 10:34:35 PM MDT BROOMFIELD -- Medical marijuana businesses will be banned in Broomfield effective Aug. 8, following the City Council's 8-2 vote to ban dispensaries and cultivation facilities. The decision came Tuesday night after 37 Broomfield residents testified in a lengthy public hearing. Supporters of the ban Rating: 5