Crested Butte ready to roll and loosen its MMJ regs

Tourism businesses say they are feeling the heat

Despite some concerns raised by local business owners in the tourism industry, the Crested Butte Town Council is ready to loosen up its medical marijuana (MMJ) ordinance as early as next month. The town will revise the law to allow transfers of MMJ permits between qualified applicants and it will allow the two vacant permits in town to be applied for.

The town in its original ordinance had limited the number of MMJ dispensary permits in town to five. But only three were taken through to completion, so now, other potential dispensary owners will be able to apply for the remaining two permits.
The state is in the process of firming up its regulations governing MMJ; the final rules are expected to be released as early as March. Until that happens, the state will not issue any more dispensary permits. MMJ dispensaries must be permitted by both local municipalities and the state.
At the January 18 council meeting, town attorney John Belkin said he expected the state will not start reviewing new permits until this summer so even if a local businessperson is approved for one of the two Crested Butte permits, the new dispensary couldn’t begin operating until the state gives its approval.
Town councilperson Roland Mason pointed out that it takes about three months for a local MMJ review so it might be beneficial to start the process, thus allowing a local applicant to be pretty much ready when the state begins its review.
“Crested Butte adopted its MMJ ordinance in front of the final state law,” explained Belkin. “If you wait for the state regulations, the local ordinance adaptations will be much simpler and frankly, probably look a lot like liquor licenses in terms of process.”
Councilperson Reed Betz suggested the town “reel it back in and scale it back. Let’s let the state get its rules in order and hopefully in March we’ll have more answers.”
“There may be some value in letting the state do the heavy lifting but this is a unique opportunity for the town,” countered councilperson Phoebe Wilson. “We have a chance to create what we want. We can be creative.”
Richard Haley of Western Holistics lobbied the council to open up the application process to an unlimited number of permits. “Give us a chance to live the American dream,” he said. “We are offering high quality medicine at low prices. Let the free market work.”
Attorney Aaron Huckstep made it clear to the council that after accusations made at the last public discussion, his client, the Crested Butte Wellness Center, has been doing everything by the book. “We want the ability to transfer the permit but there is nothing illegal about the way the Wellness Center is doing business. Let’s keep that clear,” he said.
But the council heard from some business people feeling the “bigger picture” impact of MMJ dispensaries in Crested Butte.
“The tourism business of Crested Butte is feeling a negative impact of dispensaries,” Steve Ryan of Iron Horse Property Management told the council. “We got a call from a family in Dallas who had rented a house in town for spring break. They wanted to cancel the reservation and when I asked why, she said she had friends who had come here in December and they had seen the dispensaries located by the kid’s sledding hill. That made her uncomfortable and so she cancelled.”
Ryan said his research has shown that a family spends between $6,000 and $8,000 when they come to Crested Butte on vacation. “The old adage of when you like something you tell one person and when you dislike something you tell 10 people, applies here,” he said. “Lots of Texans come to Crested Butte. I can only imagine the woman who started the story spreading the word in Dallas. It’s a slippery slope of a game of telephone where she tells someone and they tell someone else and suddenly there’s a perception that you can buy crack at the restaurants in Crested Butte.
“We have a tourism-based economy,” Ryan continued. “We are funded here by tourists. I just want the council to be aware and think of the impacts. There are definite impacts on our tourism industry.”
Mayor Leah Williams explained that the council consciously limited the dispensaries to the commercial zone of town, and that happens to bump up against the sledding hill.
“Let’s look at this for what it is,” said local restaurant owner Peter Maxwell. “Breckenridge decriminalized it but it is located near Front Range cities and is big enough to absorb a lot more people. Here, it is being glamorized with advertising on the bus talking about candy. The fact is we get a lot of Bible Belt clients and marijuana is taboo in that culture.
“Businesses here rely on tourists from Bible Belt communities and they’ll start telling 10 people each to not come here and spend their dollars,” Maxwell continued. “This can be huge. I understand that it’s probably here to stay and we don’t want to abolish it but do we really need three, let alone more than that when we can’t even support a pharmacy in Crested Butte? And let’s call a spade a spade. Not everyone with a MMJ card is severely injured or in severe pain.”
Two impassioned Western Holistic patients, Scott Gillman and Michael Willingham, told Maxwell they would happily trade their disease and pain for just about anything to not need to use medical marijuana.
“I’m a cancer patient,” said Willingham. “I want to make my own choice of where I go to get my medicine. Let us as patients make that choice and let the free market work. Who are you to say where I should go for my medical needs?”
“Look, we don’t do this for the money,” said Haley. “We do it to help people.”
“I know it’s an explosive issue but it’s something you have to deal with,” resident Michelle DeGolyer told the council. “Let the people apply for the other two permits allowed in your ordinance. We’re a proud small town and the council had the foresight to adopt rules before the state.”
“Breckenridge did decriminalize marijuana and it is consistently named as one of the top five family resorts in the country,” pointed out Will Browne. “Families still go there. For a family to not come here based on one issue, I’d ask them to sit down and talk to and educate their children.”
“The only issue I have opening it up to an unlimited amount of permits would be that if the market bears ten dispensaries, I think that could be a little obnoxious,” said councilperson Dan Escalante. “I don’t want to become a monoculture of being a weed-selling center.”
“I take the comments of Peter and Steve to heart,” commented councilperson Jim Schmidt. “But Breckenridge is still considered a family resort. It’s a tough thing but my gut feeling is that the free market will work and this is the only thing we put restrictive numbers on with five permits.”
“I have a problem with the bus advertising,” said councilperson John Wirsing. “You can’t advertise cigarettes but you can advertise MMJ. Maybe we need to be more discreet in the future. I think there is a wrong message being sent to the kids. It’s sort of screwy. The perception of the tourist customer base is that these things are frequented by stoners and not medical patients. Perception can sometimes be reality. It is becoming an issue of discussion at the Chamber.”
“I like that we were in the forefront of this,” said Betz, “but I’m sort of disappointed where it’s gone. Still, I think we should open it up for those other two permits and adjust the ordinance more after the state releases its regulations.”
The council will have Belkin draw up amendments to the current ordinance to allow the transfer of MMJ permits and to allow applications for the two remaining spots.