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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                 

JUNE 7, 2010

Colorado Gives Marijuana Dispensaries Legal Status

Governor Signs Regulations for State’s Medical Marijuana Industry

CONTACT: Mike Meno, MPP director of communications …………… 202-905-2030 or [email protected]

DENVER, COLORADO —Today, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) signed legislation that will regulate the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries through a system of local and state licenses, but still allow individual localities to ban dispensaries. Currently there are an estimated 1,100 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout Colorado — the most in any state other than California, which does not have statewide dispensary regulations. Colorado officials estimate that about half of current dispensaries will be able to comply with new regulations.

         “By approving a statewide system of dispensaries through which patients can safely acquire marijuana, Colorado is taking a significant amount of revenue away from the dangerous, illicit, and unsanctioned market created by prohibition,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Instead, patients will now be able to obtain marijuana from a sensible and orderly system of law-abiding and regulated providers. The scope of this newly regulated industry makes it the largest ever in the United States.”

         Under the regulations, dispensary owners will be subject to licensing fees and criminal background checks. Dispensaries will be required to grow 70 percent of the marijuana they sell and, like liquor stores, could not operate within 1,000 feet of a school.

         A state-regulated medical marijuana program is up and running in New Mexico and similar programs will soon be operational in Rhode Island, Maine, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. — but the number of sanctioned dispensaries to be allowed in each of those states is fewer than 10. Colorado’s law will authorize hundreds, and potentially more if future demand increases.

         A Rasmussen telephone poll released May 15 showed that there is also plurality support among Colorado voters for further expanding the state’s marijuana laws. Forty-nine percent of likely voters said they support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, with an additional 13 percent still undecided. 

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                 

JUNE 7, 2010

New Marijuana Ordinance Could Have Disastrous Impact on Los Angeles

By Closing More Than 400 Medical Marijuana Dispensing Collectives, City Will Lose Countless Jobs and Tax Dollars, Force Some Patients Into Black Market

CONTACT: Aaron Smith, MPP California policy director …………… 707-575-9870 or 707-291-0076

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Today, the City of Los Angeles is expected to begin enforcing an ordinance that could shut down more than 400 medical marijuana dispensing collectives within the city. Approved by the L.A. City Council, the ordinance will give collectives that opened prior to 2007 (about 130 of which remain) six months to comply with new regulations that will force many into new locations.

         “This new ordinance is all but guaranteed to have a disastrous impact on Los Angeles,” said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “By imposing zoning laws on medical marijuana collectives that are stricter than those for gun dealers, adult entertainment businesses, alcohol vendors, or pharmacies, the city is placing an undue burden on thousands of medical marijuana patients whose quality of life may depend on safe and reliable access to their medicine. There is no rational reason to impose stricter regulations on medical marijuana collectives than on liquor stores, which sell a substance that everyone knows is more harmful than marijuana and doesn’t require a doctor’s recommendation to purchase. With so many collectives being forced to close shop, many patients whose neighborhood dispensaries close will no doubt turn to the criminal market to obtain their medicine. That means sales taxes won’t be paid on those transactions, it will be impossible to monitor the quality or origin of that marijuana, and the typical turf wars and crime associated with black markets will become more prevalent in surrounding communities.

         “Even in terms of simple economics, closing these businesses makes entirely no sense,” Smith continued. “Why, in the midst of a recession, in a city already plagued by economic stagnation, would anyone think it’s a good idea to shutter more than 400 legitimate businesses that employ hundreds of residents and contribute millions in tax revenue? More empty storefronts are not the solution to L.A.’s financial woes.” 

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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