{"id":119081,"date":"2014-07-14T19:52:06","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sorting-out-legal-marijuana\/"},"modified":"2014-07-14T19:52:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:52:06","slug":"sorting-out-legal-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sorting-out-legal-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorting out legal marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Several
Several types of marijuana are available from retail dispensaries elsewhere in Colorado. The city\u2019s moratorium on applications expired July 1. So far, it has received four applications for recreational marijuana shops in Durango.<\/span>JERRY McBRIDE\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After a long, slow public debate, Durango is poised to join other Colorado cities in a first-in-the-nation public policy experiment with legal retail marijuana.<\/p>\n

Retail marijuana is expected to go on sale in Durango sometime this fall. The city of Durango ended its moratorium on accepting applications July 1.<\/p>\n

With that, Durango will join much of the rest of Colorado in legalizing it, as marijuana advocates have urged for years. The verdict will be felt nationwide.<\/p>\n

The city of Durango has received four land-use applications for retail marijuana shops. Three propose to \u201cco-locate\u201d with existing dispensaries. However, one dispensary, The Acceptus Group, has applied to open a retail shop in a downtown second-floor location at 965\u00bd Main Ave.<\/p>\n

Local dispensaries are not selling retail pot right away \u2013 it will take an estimated three to four months to obtain the necessary state and local licenses and begin selling the product.<\/p>\n

The advent of legal marijuana for all adults has been a long time coming for Durango. While local elected officials favored a deliberate approach as they carefully crafted regulations, retailers in Denver, Telluride and other Colorado cities have been selling retail marijuana for months.<\/p>\n

Durango\u2019s relatively slow response came despite strong local support for Amendment 64, the 2012 constitutional amendment that led to legal recreational marijuana. La Plata County voters backed it with 62 percent approval, higher than the 55 percent of voters statewide.<\/p>\n

The go-slow approach has not gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re about a year behind Carbondale and other places that have been doing it successfully,\u201d said Jackson Clark, owner of Toh-Atin Gallery in Durango.<\/p>\n

Clark and other local business leaders don\u2019t expect much to change once recreational marijuana becomes available.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s legal, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s caused any major problems,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

Some local residents have voiced concern that legal marijuana could harm Durango\u2019s image and hurt two of the city\u2019s most lucrative businesses: tourism and real estate. But Clark is among those who think the worries are overblown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have plenty of alcohol-related problems that I think are much more severe than you\u2019ll see with this,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really see a downside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durango could receive more pot-related tourism than other Colorado cities because of its proximity to three states \u2013 New Mexico, Utah and Arizona \u2013 that have stricter marijuana laws.<\/p>\n

A report released last week by the Colorado Department of Revenue found that tourism is driving retail marijuana purchases throughout the state, but especially so in mountain towns.<\/p>\n

Out-of-state visitors account for about 44 percent of retail marijuana demand in the Denver metro area, and 90 percent in heavily visited mountain communities, according to the report. But some tourism operations don\u2019t expect much impact.<\/p>\n

Rod Barker, owner of The Strater Hotel, said he \u201ccan\u2019t imagine it\u2019s a topic of too much interest\u201d to guests of his historic Main Avenue hotel. Guests are more interested in Durango\u2019s natural setting, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a beautiful town to visit, and the tourists that I see here coming through the Strater are coming for the reasons we\u2019ve had all of these years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Barker, sharing a popular sentiment, isn\u2019t eager for the city to become known for marijuana.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, we\u2019ve done a pretty good job of de-emphasizing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some communities, including Bayfield, Ignacio and Montezuma County, have banned retail marijuana operations.<\/p>\n

The state report estimated total marijuana demand at 130 metric tons this year, much higher than initial estimates.<\/p>\n

The report attributed the higher-than-expected demand to heavy use by daily marijuana smokers. Heavy users account for 70 percent of all marijuana demand in the state, the report said.<\/p>\n

The report was produced by the Marijuana Policy Group, a collaboration between the University of Colorado, Boulder, Business Research Division and BBC Research & Consulting in Denver.<\/p>\n

Overall, medical marijuana continues to outsell retail marijuana. Many heavy users have medical marijuana cards, while the retail shops are attracting tourists, the report said.<\/p>\n

Retail marijuana carries an additional 10 percent sales tax. The hefty additional tax makes it cheaper for regular marijuana users to continue buying medical pot rather than shifting to retail. The report found \u201cconversions from medical to retail consumption is relatively low.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local governments may also see an impact in the form of a boost in tax revenue.<\/p>\n

The city of Durango did not forecast any marijuana-related revenue for its current 2014 fiscal year budget.<\/p>\n

City Manager Ron LeBlanc said he did not feel comfortable forecasting marijuana revenues without an established track record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interaction between revenues generated by medical marijuana and recreational marijuana has not been documented. We simply do not know if the customer will shift from one to the other,\u201d LeBlanc said in an email response to questions. \u201cWe also do not know how the free market will react to the availability of these products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marijuana operators are maintaining a public silence as the process moves forward. Messages for local dispensary owners seeking comment for this story were not returned.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s revenue from medical marijuana so far has been modest.<\/p>\n

For the first five months of the year, the city brought in just over $75,000 in medical marijuana tax revenue, accounting for only 1 percent of Durango\u2019s sales-tax revenue. That was less than sporting goods, for example. Liquor stores brought in almost triple the revenue of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s first-in-the-nation experience with legal recreational marijuana has brought a bright glare of media attention typified by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd\u2019s instantly Internet-famous \u201cpanting and paranoid\u201d trip with a marijuana edible in a Denver hotel room.<\/p>\n

Some local residents just want to get through the initial phase and into a new normal. Call it green fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all tired of hearing about it,\u201d said Roger Zalneraitis, executive director of the La Plata Economic Development Alliance. \u201cWe\u2019d all rather talk about something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

cslothower@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

What you need to know about recreational marijuana<\/h4>\n

When will retail marijuana be available in Durango?
\n Not soon. Four existing dispensaries applied beginning July 1 to sell retail marijuana, but the various local and state approval processes are likely to take three to four months to navigate. That would put retail sales beginning around late September or October, barring unforeseen obstacles.
\n Where can I buy legal marijuana?
\n Telluride remains the closest jurisdiction where retail marijuana is available for purchase. Denver, Boulder and Crested Butte are among other Colorado cities with available retail pot.
\n Can I smoke pot in public?
\n No. Amendment 64 prohibits the use of marijuana \u201copenly and publicly.\u201d Most hotels and motels also have nonsmoking policies. Furthermore, possessing marijuana on federal land, including Durango Mountain Resort and Mesa Verde National Park, remains illegal. Your best, hassle-free bet: Consume marijuana in a private home.
\n May I possess marijuana?
\n Yes. Possession of up to an ounce is legal. You may possess more than an ounce if the pot remains on the same premises where it was grown.
\n May I grow marijuana in my home?
\n Yes. Colorado law allows for growing up to six plants (three flowering) in an enclosed, locked space. Just don\u2019t try to sell the product. You need a license for that.
\n Chuck Slothower<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

or not, Durango poised to join Colorado\u2019s exclusive club status when recreational pot goes on sale in the fall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[135],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-119081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119081"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=119081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}