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For more information on Boulder's proposed medical-marijuana regulations, visit boulderplandevelop.net.
Project timeline
Feb. 12 -- City to release draft regulations for public review
Feb. 18 -- Boulder Planning Board hearing on proposed regulations
March 2 -- Boulder City Council first reading of ordinance
March 16 -- Boulder City Council second reading of ordinance
Survey responses
The city of Boulder on Wednesday released the results of a month-long survey on people's attitudes about medical-marijuana dispensaries. Here's a look at some of the hundreds of anonymous comments that the city received:
"Not all of us are hard core left wing. Marijuana is illegal and this is all a shell to allow people to use it. If we want to legalize pot that is fine, but lets go about doing that, not this back door medical excuse."
"Prohibition is the illness we are fighting here. This is just the first dose of badly needed social medicine long overdue."
"Medical Marijuana is an asset to any community. A city should not be allowed to ban them. Any kind of negative reaction is due to lack of education."
"Just plain legalize marijuana."
"Medical cannabis has a far less impact on society than does alcohol but you hand out licenses for this drug with less restrictions."
"Prescriptions should only be acceptable from licensed, practicing, medical doctors. Dispensaries should require state licensing and over sight and be severely limited in quantity."
"Land use regulations may be the most expedient tool currently available to the city for regulation of these businesses. However, they need to be treated under other business licensing practices, to either be like legitimate drug stores and pharmacies or like liquor or tobacco stores."
"I hope to see Boulder and Colorado become a pioneering leader in the good use of marijuana as food and medicine, including the beneficial use of industrial hemp."
For complete survey results and comments, visit dailycamera.com.
Boulder residents are largely divided on how far the city should go to regulate medical-marijuana dispensaries, according to a new survey.
The city on Wednesday released the results of a month-long online survey about how people feel about medical marijuana being grown and sold in Boulder.
It was designed to solicit public feedback about emergency regulations that the City Council approved in November, which are aimed at keeping the controversial businesses away from schools and from clustering in large numbers.
The results of the anonymous and non-scientific poll show that nearly half of the 641 people who responded think the temporary rules are "well balanced." But those who didn't fall into that category were split nearly down the middle between the regulations being too strict and not being strict enough.
Michael Banuelos, a spokesman for the city of Boulder, said the split results are "really telling of community concerns," and would be a consideration as the Boulder Planning Board works on more permanent rules later this month.
Banuelos said the survey also shows that the temporary rules "appear to be working, at least for some, at this point."
The interim rules, which expire March 31, require dispensaries that opened after Nov. 6 to stay 500 feet away from schools and licensed day-care centers. The businesses also aren't allowed to open in areas that already have three or more dispensaries within 500 feet, or to operate in houses or residential zones.
Some of the people who said that the city's rules don't go far enough suggested a 1,000-foot buffer between dispensaries, which a recent city study found would virtually eliminate space for any additional dispensaries to open in downtown Boulder or on University Hill.
Others said they are opposed to dispensaries in general. Some of the anonymous comments included, "Anyone who uses marijuana should be prosecuted to the fullest extent," and "the recent flood of these dispensaries is appalling. This isn't about helping people, it is about selling pot."
A supporter of medical marijuana wrote that the most important issue is "public discourse and education regarding the nature of medical marijuana as a viable means of improving human health."
Another person wrote that "the people of Boulder do not want over-regulation. However, they want to be assured that the clinics are managed and run properly."
The responses were almost equally divided on questions that asked whether the temporary rules are doing enough to address where dispensaries are allowed to operate in the city, or in regulating how the companies operate.
The city received more than 400 written comments on the question of how the city could better regulate where and how dispensaries do business. The suggestions ranged from banning the sale of medical marijuana in the city to supporting the outright legalization of all marijuana.
An open-ended question about whether people think marijuana dispensaries and growing businesses will have a positive or negative impact on nearby neighborhoods generated almost 600 comments.
"Citizens respect freedom and openness; prohibition allows for neither," one person wrote. "So, having pot shops out in the open, taxed and regulated just makes sense. It always has, we are just now coming to acceptance."
Others said dispensaries would have a negative effect on the community.
"No doubt they will cater to the transient rental neighborhoods with college kids," another person wrote. "If allowed to proliferate, they will communicate a negative community value about recreational drug use."
Pierre Werner, owner of DrReefer.com at 1121 Broadway, said he took the survey online but doesn't think the results are truly reflective of the community.
"It sounds like a lot of dispensary owners took the survey, and they want to keep the moratorium in place because it's good for business," he said.
Werner said that, by limiting the number of dispensaries in certain areas, the city has lessened competition.
"I'm more of a free-market guy," he said. "I don't want to see any moratoriums."
He said he hopes the City Council and the Boulder Planning Board take input from the survey, business owners, homeowners and their own impressions of the industry as they discuss long-term rules.
Pete "Pony" Johnson, owner of The Med Shed at 4483 Broadway in Boulder, agreed.
"I think everybody that's doing this legitimately and paying taxes, no one has a problem with (regulations)," he said.
A memo outlining proposed permanent regulations will be made publicly available on Feb. 12. The Planning Board will discuss the proposal the following week, with the City Council taking up the measure in March.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.
