In an exclusive interview last month, Garrett Smith, owner of The Herbal Alternative, described the municipal code enforcement summons he received over the summer for violating state marijuana law as \u201carbitrary.\u201d Since, the code enforcement infraction has been dismissed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Dec. 15th jury trial has been vacated,\u201d said Municipal Court clerk Carla Odell.<\/p>\n
Odell directed all further questions to City Attorney Mike Green, who declined to comment when asked why he opted not to prosecute the criminal summons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t litigate my cases in the press,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
Boyd Neagle, the city\u2019s first marijuana code enforcement officer, ticketed Smith for the violation on July 22, citing medical and recreational cannabis plants were both growing on a single tray inside the licensed marijuana facility.<\/p>\n
Attempts to reach Neagle for comment this week were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
According to Smith, all the company\u2019s medical and retail plants were clearly and individually tagged with appropriately colored radio frequency identification when ticketed by Neagle. State law requires canary-yellow labels be used to identify medical marijuana plants, and royal blue tags be used to mark retail marijuana plants.<\/p>\n
Reached this week, Smith also declined to comment on the dropped criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
In February, The Herbal Alternative became the first licensed retail marijuana operation in Cortez. Colorado became the first state to lift marijuana prohibition at the retail level on Jan. 1, 2014.<\/p>\n