Colorado-Medical-Marijuana-Blog

As state laws become stricter on medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, outlying cities such as Ft. Collins are finding ways of their own to tighten restrictions on dispensaries and dispensary locations. With the number of dispensaries in Ft. Collins climbing to over 23, officials are working to keep the city from becoming a regional hub for medical marijuana users. Lawmakers voted 5-2 last week to grandfather in medical marijuana businesses already operating in the city or are in the process of getting a license in an effort to avoid the city becoming a growth and distribution hub. One way is to limit licenses to two. Another is to require businesses to adhere to the ordinance requiring a dispensary to keep at least 1,000 feet from schools and 500 feet from colleges, parks and places of worship. By tightening the belt on dispensaries, Ft. Collins lawmakers hope to keep Ft. Collins from becoming a focal point for medical marijuana users in the northern region.

As a patient of medical cannabis, many wonder what the best methodology to acquire product is. Colorado medical marijuana caregivers and dispensaries both have benefit; it is just a matter of deciding what is best for the individual. Commonly, a medical marijuana dispensary is thought of as a “convenience store”; a good place to find variety (edibles, hardware), but will be slightly more expensive due to the retail nature of the store. Caregivers, on the other hand, can be thought of as a “bulk store”; less variety, but larger amounts can be purchased for a little less money. One should not think of the two as competing or dueling entities, rather different methods to provide proper service to the patient.

Most advocates of medical marijuana in Colorado focus on the medicinal benefits of Colorado Cannabis. True as this may be, perhaps this is just the first step for a blooming industry. Obviously, much controversy has surrounded the legitimacy of the newly flourishing industry. Opponents of the product tend to constantly site concepts like morality and social dangers as if medical marijuana in Colorado has already torn the moral fabric of society. It seems, in contrast to this belief, the industry has already provided a beneficial product and a potentially limitless expanding business prospect.  After all, there is a reason why over 300 Colorado medicinal marijuana dispensaries opened their doors in less than a year, thus creating one of the fastest growing and profitable industries in history. Unfortunately, this is both a gift and a curse for the industry: business exponentially expanded in a short time, but that ended up creating more skepticism and fear among the general public. Objectively speaking, legalizing Colorado cannabis would create business opportunities, provide jobs, and would provide literally billions of dollars to state and federal government in sales tax alone. For now, the battle will rage on just to keep the medical industry alive. Perhaps in the near future, fear and skepticism will fade away, allowing the industry thrive as it really should.

There is a bounty of problems facing today’s Colorado medical marijuana growers, but the main problem tends to be focused around caregiver rules and regulations. other isssues include legitimization and legalization. Although many growers follow state laws very closely, there are still those who use the cover of state laws to fund their own private marijuana growing and selling operations. States such as Colorado and California have strict state requirements for those who grow the substance for medical use, but even with these strict guidelines in place, there are still individuals who find their way around the rules. Locating these individuals from among the many legitimate growers is a full time job for law enforcement agents operating on both state and federal levels. Although medical marijuana is still considered illegal on a federal level, states such as Colorado allow patients to use the drug for medicinal use as recommended by a physician for physical and mental ailments. In the state of California last year, law enforcement officials pulled up 364,000 plants grown strictly for sale on the black market. However, officials did state that over 154 growers were left intact who were following the guidelines for medical use. The general consensus among people in the medicalmarijuana industry is that legitimate growers make Business more difficult and less profitable for the drug cartels south of the border.