The stay will stick, at least until July 2013. The City Council voted Tuesday night to extend a moratorium on issuing medical marijuana business licenses in Durango.

With the new rules and regulations coming down the Amendment 64 pipeline and a potential face-off with federal officials, the city chose to put the issue on hold.

After voters approved Amendment 64 in November, a law that aims to regulate marijuana much like alcohol, Gov. John Hickenlooper immediately contacted Washington for comment. Marijuana is listed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act and considered illegal, putting the amendment at the center of a debate between federal and state law.

Federal officials did not respond to the governor’s request for direction, so Hickenlooper created a task force to deal with potential future conflicts and to help create the regulatory framework for licensing retail establishments that were legalized with the passage of Amendment 64.

In the meantime, implementation is under way throughout Colorado.

The deadline for beginning to process retail business applications is July 2013, and the law allows for medical marijuana facilities to have priority status. Therefore, Durango officials anticipate they could have an influx of medical marijuana applications in the coming year.

This past summer, the city calculated that it was losing money processing and issuing medical marijuana licenses, as well as regulating the local industry. Council members voted to approve an increase in the associated fees and charges. They also issued the original moratorium, scheduled to expire at the end of the year, in anticipation of the November election, which included Amendment 64.

An emergency ordinance of this type lasts for 60 days, after which a public hearing will take place and another 60-day moratorium can be approved. Council members are expected to continue it until a July deadline when the state is required to have a regulatory framework in place.

 

– Tracy Chamberlin