By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
In a regularly scheduled work session of the Cedaredge Trustees, Mayor Pat Means asked the trustees what they want to do about the upcoming expiration of the moratorium they placed on marijuana dispensaries in the town of Cedaredge.
The trustees placed the current moratorium on dispensaries in November of 2009 in an emergency meeting. The moratorium will expire in November 2010.
Means said, “I think that we need to be looking at our options. We have talked to the town attorney and he said that, because we are a home rule town, we can ban any such business in Cedaredge. We could put this on the agenda in the next couple of months and place that ban if we want to. I think that we need to get input from the citizens to see what they want in the next few weeks, and go from there,” said Means.
“We have already gotten emails and phone calls from people that do not want this type of business in Cedaredge and we need to let people know that we are thinking about this and that we want to know what they have to say about it,” said Means.
Trustee Clayton Ryan spoke out firmly that the people that have talked to him are not in favor of this type of business in this community. “I don't think this is the kind of business that we want in Cedaredge,” said Ryan.
“There are two ways that we can enact a ban on marijuana dispensaries. We can ban them by an enactment of the Board of Trustees, or we can put it to a vote of the people,” said Means.
Nelson Cederberg asked Police Chief, Bob Yant if the things that he had been reading about a drastic increase in crime in the neighborhoods around the existing businesses are true.
“Yes, I just got back from the Police Chiefs Association meeting and that is what the other police departments in the state are seeing. Increased burglary, robbery, assaults and thefts are what police are seeing in direct relation to the dispensaries.”
Trustee Nancy Sturgill said, “I would not vote on a ban of these dispensaries. I have been talking to some people that use medical marijuana and I would not want to deprive the people of Cedaredge the opportunity to purchase a natural product to help them.”
Trustee Larry Smith asked how many dispensaries are in the county now that are permitted and open.
There are seven dispensaries in Delta County, two in Delta, four in Paonia, one in Orchard City, and one that has been permitted that is not yet open for business. The dispensary in Orchard City is 4 miles from the Cedaredge town limits.
After a lengthy discussion, trustees decided that they wanted to extend the moratorium on marijuana dispensaries in Cedaredge until November 2011. Meanwhile, they want to hear input and opinions from the people of Cedaredge concerning the issue.
Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee recently weighed in on the issue:
“Federal law still prohibits the use of marijuana, so we are enforcing the parts of this that pertain to federal law. When Amendment 20 was written, although poorly written, in my opinion, the intent was that people who were terminally ill were the ones that were being addressed in this amendment. At that time, the average age of the people permitting under the amendment was 60 plus years old. Now, with the loose interpretation of that amendment, the average age is people in their 30s. Amendment 20 has been seriously abused. I don't believe that the legalization of some people using marijuana is going to slow the rate of illegal drug use down, and we will continue to enforce the law accordingly.”
