Growing_Pains

Growing Pains
An examination of Colorado’s booming medical marijuana industry
C
An industry ignites
Colorado’s medical marijuana indus-try
took off in 2009, adding more than
100,000 patients and hundreds of retail
stores.
Supporters say the business is legiti-mate,
the fastest growing in the state and
one that will create jobs and generate
tax revenue for Colorado. Opponents
say the industry’s rapid growth has led
to abuse and fraud, question the treat-ment
method and express concerns
about the effects on communities.
New legislation was enacted to regu-late
Stories by
Jack Weinstein
the medicine and business aspects
of medical marijuana, a model that
is setting the standard for other states
across the country.
The Steamboat Pilot & Today
explores the industry, from the first
seeds through its cultivation, in a three-part
series ending Friday.
John F. Russell/staff
A three-part series by the Steamboat Pilot & Today Part 1, October 6, 2010
Part 1: Seeds of controversy Today
It took nine years for Colorado’s medical marijuana industry to
take off after Amendment 20. Some worry it’s now out of control.
Part 2: Green rush Thursday
Medical marijuana has become the basis for lucrative businesses,
and entrepreneurs are not the only ones who could cash in.
Part 3: Blazing the trail Friday
Municipalities across the state have been forced to weigh in on
the marijuana debate. The months ahead will shape the industry.

2 | Growing Pains: Part 1 Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Steamboat Pilot & Today
Seeds of controversy
Colorado scrambles to manage an industry some say is rife with abuse
Kara Rosen is among
the more than 100,000
Colorado residents who
have become legal users of mari-juana
since 2009.
The 32-year-old Hayden resi-dent
and cancer survivor has used
medical marijuana every day for
about a year. It’s the only remedy
she’s found to treat pain, digestion
problems, nausea, loss of appetite
and insomnia.
“I had lung cancer,” said
Rosen, who owns Airtech
Heating
& Sheet Metal with her hus-band,
Shelby. “I had it surgically
removed. I have to deal with the
pain just like other people deal
with pain. I just do it in a different
way. And it’s not a bad way.”
Medical marijuana became
legal in Colorado, for patients
with certain conditions and a doc-tor’s
recommendation, after nearly
54 percent of voters approved
Amendment 20 in 2000.
Nearly a decade later, Rosen is
happy she had that option when
confronting her post-cancer pain.
But Rosen’s story isn’t typical.
The majority of Coloradans who
use medical marijuana do so to
treat severe pain, not the effects of
cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS and
the other preapproved conditions.
For every Rosen, there are
many more like Kip Strean.
Although Strean said he uses
medical marijuana to relieve
chronic back and shoulder pain,
as well as insomnia, the 59-year-old
also said he’s been smoking
marijuana for about 40 years.
Strean, a musician who has
lived in Steamboat Springs since
2000, was a child of the 1960s.
He said marijuana is part of his
culture. After a spring 2009 visit
to Amsterdam, known in part for
its legalization of marijuana, he
applied for a state-issued medical
marijuana registry card.
“I decided to get the card
because I was tired of feeling like
I was doing anything illegal any-more,”
he said. “I mean, come on,
the acceptance of it today is so
much different than it was in the
’60s.”
In the nine years after it was
added to the state constitution,
medical marijuana mostly flew
under the radar in Colorado. But
a sequence of events starting in
2009 triggered what has become
an emerging industry, changing
the business and social landscape
in Colorado while creating a
model for the rest of the country.
Kara Rosen eats cookies and muffins containing marijuana to help relieve chronic pain and other ailments she’s experienced since doctors removed a carcinoid tumor from her left lung. Rosen, a Hayden resident, is part of
a new wave of patients who have turned to marijuana after they say more traditional medications failed to help them.
Steamboat Springs resident and medical marijuana user Kip Strean uses the drug to
treat back and shoulder pain and to relieve insomnia. Strean said he discovered the
benefits of smoking marijuana more than 40 years ago.

Steamboat Pilot & Today Growing Pains: Part 1 Wednesday, October 6, 2010 | 3
Taking root
Some lawmakers, law enforce-ment
officers, state officials and
medical professionals said a surge
is taking place in the industry,
which was largely unregulated and
rife with abuse before legislation
took effect July 1.
The biggest problem, they say,
is approved medical marijuana
users defrauding the system to
smoke pot recreationally.
“Anybody who doesn’t think
there’s abuse going on has to
be pretty naïve. We don’t have
108,000 people with debilitating
medical conditions,” Colorado
Attorney General John Suthers
said in August, referring to an
earlier estimate of the number of
approved medical marijuana card-holders.
Some Routt County dispensary
owners acknowledge the willing-ness
of some to take advantage of
the system.
“I would say over 50 percent of
cardholders use recreationally — a
lot for pain management or as a
stress reducer,” said Chris Ward,
whose Milner medical marijuana
center has a Hawaiian theme to
reflect his upbringing on the island
of Kauai.
A ‘perfect storm’
Colorado is one of 14 states
with legislation making the use
of medical marijuana legal.
California came first in 1996.
Earlier this year, Washington,
D.C., approved it.
After Colorado voters
approved Amendment 20, the
state’s constitution was amended
to allow the use of medical mari-juana
for eight debilitating condi-tions:
cancer, glaucoma, HIV/
AIDS, cachexia (physical wasting
away though weight loss and mus-cle
atrophy), severe pain, severe
nausea, seizures and persistent
muscle spasms.
Several events last year created
what Ned Calonge, the state’s
chief medical officer, called a “per-fect
storm” for medical marijuana
in Colorado.
First, U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder said in March 2009
that federal raids of medical mari-juana
dispensaries would stop.
Then, the Colorado Board of
Health chose not to impose a limit
on the number of patients a medi-cal
marijuana provider, called a
caregiver, could have. And finally,
the U.S. Justice Department
sent
a memo to prosecutors in October
2009 instructing them to not use
federal resources against people
in compliance with state medical
marijuana laws.
The industry quickly took off.
There were 4,720 Colorado card-holders
by the end of 2008. As of
Aug. 31, that number had swelled
to an estimated 113,000, according
to the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment.
The agency is charged with over-seeing
the state’s Medical
Marijuana
Medical marijuana legislation by state On the books
Utah
Mont.
Wash.
Colorado Senate Bill 109 highlights
Registry.
The estimate is
based on the volume of applica-tions
the registry receives.
Coinciding with the exploding
number of approved marijuana
users, state officials once estimated
that 1,100 medical marijuana
centers operated in the state.
A stretch of South Broadway
Street in Denver, for example, is
referred to as “The Green Mile”
or “Broadsterdam” for the many
medical marijuana centers there,
some next door to or across the
street from each other.
“We never imagined that the
surge would be so high or would
be sustained for so many months,”
Calonge said in a telephone inter-view.
“All these elements came
N.D.
S.D.
Neb.
together and gave birth to this
industry.”
Routt County, with a popula-tion
of 23,500, has five medical
marijuana centers — a sixth in
Yampa has closed. Steamboat,
with more than 12,000 residents, is
home to three of them. The num-ber
of pharmacies in the county
outnumbers medical marijuana
centers by one.
Registry overwhelmed
In a Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment
office building in Denver, U.S.
Postal Service boxes sit stacked
on shelves in the new mailroom
of the Office of Vital Statistics
Medical Marijuana Registry.
14 states and D.C. have enacted laws
that legalize medical marijuana:
Year passed; percentage yes votes or
House, Senate vote; possession limit
■ Alaska
1998; 58 percent; 1 ounce, 6 plants
■ California
1996; 56 percent; 8 ounces, 18 plants
■ Colorado
■ D.C.
2010; 13-0 Council; 2 ounces
■ Hawaii
2000; 32-18 House, 13-12 Senate;
3 ounces, 7 plants
■ Maine
1999; 61 percent; 2.5 ounces, 6 plants
■ Michigan
2008; 63 percent; 2.5 ounces, 12 plants
■ Montana
■ Nevada
■ New Jersey
2010; 48-14 House, 25-13 Senate;
2 ounces
■ New Mexico
2007; 36-31 House, 32-3 Senate;
6 ounces, 16 plants
■ Oregon
■ Rhode Island
2006; 52-10 House, 33-1 Senate;
2.5 ounces, 12 plants
■ Vermont
2004; 22-7 Senate, 82-59 House;
2 ounces, 9 plants
■ Washington
Colo.
N.M.
Texas
Ariz.
Nev.
Calif. Kan.
Okla.
Wyo.
Idaho
Ore.
Alaska
Hawaii
Minn.
Iowa
Mo.
Ark.
La.
Wis.
Mich.
Ill. Ind.
Ky.
Tenn.
Miss.
Pa.
N.C.
S.C.
Ga.
Fla.
Ala.
Ohio
W.
Va. Va.
N.Y.
Maine
N.H.
Conn.
N.J.
Del.
R.I.
Md.
Mass.
Vt.
Key
States with medical marijuana
laws on the books
States that considered laws
in 2010 or plan to in 2011
States that haven’t addressed
medical marijuana
Sources: www.procon.org, www.norml.org, The Associated Press
Nicole Miller/staff
Matt stensland/staff
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers discusses state medical marijuana legislation in
his office in Denver. Suthers says there isn’t much integrity to the process of determining
debilitating medical conditions in the rapidly growing industry.
Senate Bill 109 was created to regu-late
the medical side of Colorado’s
medical marijuana industry.
■ Physicians and patients are required
to have a bona fide relationship.
■ Physicians are required to have a
valid, unrestricted license to practice
medicine in Colorado and a valid,
unrestricted U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
controlled substances registration.
■ Physicians are precluded from accept-ing
or soliciting money from caregiv-ers
or centers, providing discounts to
patients who agree to use a particular
caregiver or center, examining patients at
centers or having an economic interest in
a business that sells medical marijuana.
■ The Colorado Department of Health
and Environment is permitted to create
rules for the medical marijuana pro-gram,
including consideration of adding
debilitating medical conditions to the
state constitution and allowing patients
to claim indigence.
■ The medical marijuana cash fund,
generated by application fees, can be
used only to operate the medical mari-juana
program and shouldn’t be trans-ferred
to any other state fund.
■ The Colorado Board of Medical
Examiners may review and investigate
physicians it has a reasonable cause to
believe violated the medical marijuana
program.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes

Federal and Colorado medical marijuana timeline
1937
The U.S. Congress
passes the Marihuana
Tax Act making it
illegal to possess or
transfer cannabis,
except for medical or
industrial uses, which
were subject to an
excise tax.
1968
The National
Institute of Drug
Abuse partners
with the University
of Mississippi to
grow marijuana for
research purposes,
a program that still
exists.
1970
Congress passes
the U.S. Controlled
Substances Act,
which replaces the
Marihuana Tax Act
and classifies
marijuana as a
Schedule 1 controlled
substance.
1975
The Colorado General
Assembly decreases
the penalty for
possessing an ounce
or less of marijuana.
1978
The U.S.
government creates
a research program,
which allows some
patients to receive
marijuana for medical
purposes. The
program was shut
down in 1992.
1996
California becomes
the first state to allow
the use of marijuana
for medical purposes
when nearly 56
percent of voters
approve
Proposition 215.
1998
Former Colorado
Secretary of State
Vikki Buckley doesn’t
count votes from
Amendment 19, a
marijuana legalization
measure, because
she says proponents
didn’t collect enough
signatures to put it on
the ballot.
2000
Colorado voters
approve Amendment
20, making the
medical use of
marijuana legal for
patients with certain
conditions and a
recommendation
from a doctor. Nearly
54 percent of voters
approve the measure.
2001
The Colorado
Department of Health
and Environment
creates the Medical
Marijuana Registry,
which issues cards to
patients approved to
use medical
marijuana.
2004
The Colorado Board
of Health limits to
five the number of
patients a medical
marijuana caregiver
can have.
2005
With 54 percent of
the vote, Denver
residents approve
a measure making
it legal for adults to
possess as much as
1 ounce of marijuana.
2006
Colorado voters reject
a ballot initiative that
would have allowed
adults to possess as
much as 1 ounce of
marijuana.
Ron Hyman, the Colorado
registrar and director of the
Medical Marijuana Registry office
in Denver, estimated in August
that more than 30,000 medical
marijuana card applications sat
unopened in those boxes. Another
batch of applications — an addi-tional
30,000 or more — had
just been sent for data entry to
Integrated Document
Solutions
in Pueblo, part of Colorado’s
Department
of Personnel
and
Administration.
Hyman said those applica-tions
were opened and each $90
application fee was deposited. But
because the applications haven’t
been processed, medical marijuana
registry cards haven’t been issued.
“I believe today we are mail-ing
out cards for applications we
received in early January,” he said
Aug. 20.
The lack of cards doesn’t
prevent users from being able to
possess and smoke marijuana or
use marijuana products. Patients
use copies of the notarized appli-cation,
physician authorization,
photo identification and registered
mail receipt as their temporary
medical marijuana cards. The
permanent cards — pieces of
white paper outlined in red that
resemble a sales tax license — take
as long as nine months to process.
Cardholders must renew their
licenses every year.
The Office of Vital Statistics
receives about 1,000 pieces of
medical-marijuana-related mail
daily, of which about 500 appli-cations
are approved, about 250
are incomplete and returned and
about 250 are information changes
for people already on the registry.
Hyman said the volume of mail
overwhelmed the office’s mail-room.
So the Medical Marijuana
Registry got its own.
The office also processes birth
and death certificates and mar-riage
licenses. Hyman estimated
that “well over 80 percent” of his
job was dedicated solely to the
Medical Marijuana Registry dur-ing
the past year.
Thousands of other pieces of
unopened mail from patients on
the registry wanting to update
information won’t be processed
until after Hyman’s staff catches
up on the application backlog.
He’s been given the go-ahead to
triple his staff, to 33 employees,
after a supplemental budget
request he made in June was
approved.
“In 2008, the entire year, I
had 5,000 patients,” Hyman said.
“Now I get that in a week. One
person could easily handle the
registry on their own from start to
finish” in 2008.
A chronic debate
Dr. Brian Harrington, a physi-cian
with Yampa Valley Medical
Associates in Steamboat, says the
abuse and misuse of medical mari-juana
undermines the legitimacy
and reasons for it.
Because of the medical mari-juana
registry backlog, only 41,039
patients — 292 in Routt County
— are listed as being approved for
medical marijuana as of Dec. 31,
2009, in the statistics section of the
registry website. Of those patients,
92 percent cite severe pain for at
least one qualifying debilitating
condition. Patients can list more
than one.
Muscle spasms, cited on 29
percent of applications, are the
second most frequently reported
condition. Cancer accounts for 2
percent, and glaucoma and HIV/
AIDS were cited on 1 percent of
applications.
Harrington said he has never
recommended medical marijuana
but has discussed it with patients
because he recognizes that it could
have medical value for the right
person. He also said the severe
pain condition has opened the
door for recreational users.
Medical marijuana patient Kip Strean examines what’s available at Steamboat’s Rocky Mountain Remedies. Patients can go to medical marijuana

2007
March 2009
The Obama
administration
announces a policy
change to end raids
on medical marijuana
dispensaries.
A Denver district
judge rules that
the state Board of
Health’s rule allowing
a medical marijuana
caregiver to provide
for only five patients
didn’t include
public input, thus
overturning the rule.
October 2009
The U.S. Department
of Justice issues
a memo to federal
July 2009
The Colorado Board
of Health considers
reinstating the rule
allowing caregivers to
provide for only five
patients but opts not
to impose a limit.
prosecutors
instructing them not to
use federal resources
to prosecute people
who are complying
with state medical
marijuana laws.
April 2010
With more than 54
percent of the vote,
Nederland residents
approve a measure
removing all criminal
penalties against
buying, possessing,
growing, consuming,
selling or transporting
marijuana for anyone
November 2009
With 71 percent of
the vote, residents of
Breckenridge approve
a ballot measure that
allows adults to
possess as much as
1 ounce of marijuana.
21 or older.
May 2010
Colorado legislators
approve Senate Bill
109 to regulate the
medical side of the
medical marijuana
industry. They also
approve House Bill
1284, which regulates
the business side of
the industry.
June 2010
Colorado Gov. Bill
Ritter signs Senate
Bill 109 and House
Bill 1284 into law.
Aug. 1, 2010
By its application
deadline, the
Colorado Department
of Revenue receives
applications from
309 infused-product
makers, 809 medical
marijuana centers and
1,219 growers,
collecting more than
$8 million in fees.
July 1, 2010
Colorado’s new
medical marijuana
laws take effect.
Sept. 1, 2010
Colorado’s medical
marijuana centers
are required to certify
that they grow 70
percent of the
marijuana they sell.
Aug. 27, 2010
The Colorado
Department of
Revenue releases 92
pages of draft rules
after the first meeting
of a workgroup of
medical marijuana
stakeholders to help
create rules to
regulate the industry.
“Heroin takes care of pain,” he
said while sitting in an exam room
at his office. “Just to say marijua-na
takes care of pain is not a good
argument.”
Brian Vicente, executive direc-tor
of Sensible Colorado, an
advocate for the state’s medical
marijuana patients, disagrees that
a majority of patients are citing
severe pain simply as an excuse to
use marijuana recreationally.
“There’s a lot of people in an
active state like Colorado that suf-fer
from chronic pain related to
biking injuries, skiing injuries,” he
said in August at his Denver office.
“If they and their doctor feel
it’s better to use marijuana than
hydrocodone or OxyContin as a
better treatment regimen, I think
we have to respect that.”
Registered nurse Shannon
Winegarner,
the director of hos-pice
and palliative care for the
Northwest
Colorado Visiting
Nurse Association,
said her
organization supports the use of
medical marijuana for its end-of-life
patients because it is a legal
medication defined by the state
constitution.
“In my experience working
with terminally ill patients, I have
definitely seen people using mari-juana
to effectively manage symp-toms
that were not managed by
other treatments,” she said about
patients suffering from nausea,
anxiety and weight loss.
“Our primary goal in hospice
is to manage comfort — quality
of life versus quantity of life. We
don’t discriminate on the choice of
medications.”
Determining legitimacy
Hyman, who runs the Medical
Marijuana Registry, doesn’t think
all patients approved for medical
marijuana have legitimate medi-cal
needs. But in the decade he’s
run the program, Hyman said he’s
spoken with many patients who
have said medical marijuana has
had a tremendous impact on their
lives.
“For these individuals, it’s
imperative we maintain the integ-rity
of the program and reduce
abuses,” he said. “If the public
loses confidence, it hurts the
integrity of the program. I think
it’s imperative we have this avenue
available for patients who need it.”
That so many have been
approved to use medical marijua-na
indicates the industry is grow-ing,
Attorney General Suthers
said, but he added that there’s not
much integrity to the process of
determining debilitating conditions.
“About 75 percent of the
patients are males,” he said. “The
average age (currently 40) is drop-ping
precipitously. I would predict
to you in a couple years the aver-age
age of a patient will be 24, 25,
something like that.”
Harrington said he doesn’t
know any local physicians who are
providing medical marijuana rec-ommendations
for their patients.
But doctors who will offer recom-mendations
aren’t hard to find.
Boulder osteopath Lisa R. Rittel
travels weekly to Steamboat to see
patients from a hotel room for a
$130 consultation fee, said Dan
Pullen, who schedules the appoint-ments
for her. Through Pullen,
Rittel declined to comment for
this story. Newspaper and online
advertisements in Steamboat and
other cities across the state tout
“same day” doctor appointments
for those seeking a medical mari-juana
recommendation.
Charish Adams, a Hayden
resident, saw a physician in
Silverthorne to secure her recom-mendation
for medical marijuana.
Adams, 30, said she began using
marijuana to treat a back injury
suffered in May while moving
furniture. The medications doc-tors
prescribed were ineffective. It’s
not that they didn’t work; Adams
couldn’t keep them down.
marijuana centers and pick out a specific type of marijuana. Strean says different types of marijuana help different ailments.

She was diagnosed in 2009
with gastroesophageal reflux dis-ease,
or chronic acid reflux dis-ease,
after vomiting nearly every
morning for 10 years. Adams,
the mother of a 10-year-old boy,
joked that during that time, she
constantly thought she was preg-nant.
Knowing she couldn’t take
pills — she couldn’t even keep
Advil down — Adams first vis-ited
a chiropractor and acupunc-turist
to relieve her back pain.
Nothing worked, she said.
Having used marijuana in the
past, Adams thought she would
give it a try. In June, she went
to Mary’s, a medical marijuana
center in Oak Creek.
Through her visits to Mary’s,
she discovered tinctures — an
alcohol- or glycerin-based liq-uid
extract typically made from
dried marijuana — and started
taking an eyedropper full about
once a week for her acid reflux.
She hasn’t vomited since June.
“What it does is it stops the
acid, it settles my stomach and
doesn’t allow it to come back
up,” Adams said. “I’d recom-mend
it to anybody with nausea
problems, headaches, usually
anything that goes with being
sick.”
Medicine vs. drug
Harrington, the Steamboat
physician, struggles with the idea
of marijuana as medicine. It’s
listed as a Schedule 1 controlled
substance by the federal govern-ment.
Under the Controlled Substances
Act, marijuana is catego-rized
with drugs including heroin
and LSD. The Act states that
Schedule 1 controlled substances
have a high potential for abuse
and have no “currently accepted
medical use” in treatments in the
United States.
Harrington said there’s a con-flict
between the medicinal value
of marijuana and its health risks
if it’s smoked, which the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
has never approved as a medical
delivery method.
He says marijuana is habit-forming,
has been linked to respi-ratory
problems if smoked and
can cause a decline in cognitive
function and increase anxiety.
“I do think the health benefits
of marijuana are well-over-played,”
he said.
But Harrington acknowledged
that ingesting marijuana, if used
as a medicine, makes more sense
than smoking it. He mentioned
Marinol, an FDA-approved pill
form of synthetic delta-9-tetrahy-drocannabinol,
or THC, thought
to be the active ingredient in
marijuana.
After surgery for her lung
cancer, Kara Rosen experienced
pain from the muscles doctors
sliced through and ribs they
fractured to get to her lung. The
Medical marijuana patient Emily Anderson, a Steamboat Springs resident, uses marijuana to treat pain from a congenital heart block — she’s on her third pacemaker — and
five knee surgeries related to her college volleyball career. Anderson said marijuana allows her to treat the pain without the side effects of prescribed pain relievers.
medications her doctors pre-scribed
contributed to or exac-erbated
her digestion problems,
nausea, loss of appetite and
insomnia.
She got a recommendation
from a Denver doctor and was
approved for a medical marijuana
card. She found that medical
marijuana was the only thing
that worked for her pain and
other post-cancer ailments. But
she rarely smokes it. Instead,
she drinks teas or eats cookies
infused with marijuana.
Infused products, a burgeon-ing
portion of the state’s medical
marijuana industry, are becom-ing
more common and popular
among patients, center owners
said. At 61, Jacob Wise, who owns
Mary’s in Oak Creek, calls him-self
an old hippie. He is a civil
engineer by trade, lost millions
as a real estate developer when
the industry went south and has
counseled cocaine addicts as a
minister certified in three reli-gions.
Owning a medical marijua-na
center was another venture.
When he opened his business,
Wise said, he thought the indus-try
was a scam, a way for recre-ational
users to smoke legally.
But the 42-year recreational and
medical marijuana user said he’s
seen improvement in his patients.
By the numbers
Colorado medical marijuana card application history
State State cardholders registry statistics*
512 730 1,040 1,955
4,720
41,039
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009*
Wise is pushing tinctures,
which he makes, for patients like
Charish Adams. He also treats
seven cancer patients with them.
“I’m going after the tincture
business because I see it more as
a medical application,” he said.
Nicole Miller/staff
“The other business is bigger
right now, but eventually tinctures
will be more popular. Tinctures
don’t give the euphoric feeling.
People smoke pot for the rose
glass syndrome — ‘I feel good.
Everything’s purty.’”
113,000 patients are estimated to
be on Colorado’s medical marijuana
registry as of Aug. 31, 2010.
*Numbers for December 2009 are
estimates.
■ 43,769 new patient applications have
been received since the registry began
operating in June 2001. Thirty-nine
applications have been denied, 28 cards
have been revoked, 298 patients have
died, and 2,365 cards have expired,
bringing the number of patients with
valid registry cards to 41,039.
■ 74 percent of approved applicants
are men.
■ The average age of patients is 40.
■ 17 patients are younger than 18.
■ 59 percent of patients reside in the
Denver metro area.
■ Severe pain accounts for 92 percent
of reported qualifying conditions. Muscle
spasms are second at 29 percent.
Patients can list more than one condition.
■ 68 percent of patients have designat-ed
a primary caregiver who manages
the care of that patient.
■ More than 1,000 physicians have
signed for medical marijuana patients
in Colorado.
*All figures current as of Dec. 31, 2009.
Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Jacob Wise, who owns Mary’s, a medical marijuana center in Oak Creek, talks about
the medical benefits of marijuana. Wise says he is pursuing tinctures because he
thinks they have more of a medical application than smoking marijuana does.

Anatomy of a marijuana plant
Regulating the medicine
Calonge, the state’s chief
medical officer, said the rapid
growth of medical marijuana
in Colorado led to fraudulent,
substandard care from doctors
who charged fees to sign medi-cal
marijuana recommendations
for patients they saw via webcam
or met at a medical marijuana
center.
He called those evaluations and
that care “recreational use mas-querading
as a medical program.”
In the spring, Colorado law-makers
began discussing two
pieces of legislation aimed at
governing the industry for the first
time. Senate Bill 109 was created
to regulate the medical side of
the industry and, among other
provisions, precludes doctors from
having any financial relationships
with medical marijuana centers.
House Bill 1284 was created
to regulate the business side of
the medical marijuana industry.
Among its many provisions, it
forces medical marijuana center
owners to undergo criminal back-ground
checks and forbids their
ownership if they’ve been convict-ed
of a drug-related felony.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter
signed both pieces of legislation
into law in June. They took effect
July 1.
Calonge said Senate Bill 109
was intended to reduce some of
the fraudulent actions by doctors
that had become commonplace.
“I believe if we’re going to call
it medical marijuana, we have to
hold it to the same standards as all
medical care,” he said.
“We believe (Senate Bill 109)
is the first step to really put it
back in the medical realm from
the recreational-use realm and,
we believe, more in line with what
people voted when they voted for
Amendment 20.”
House Bill 1284 has been called
a significant piece of legislation
that could become a model for the
rest of the country.
Vicente, executive director of
Sensible Colorado, who is not a
medical marijuana cardholder (“I
don’t have a qualifying condition,”
he said.) called House Bill 1284 a
landmark piece of legislation. He
said it was a major step forward in
legitimizing centers as safe access
facilities for medical marijuana.
But Vicente said the legislation
has issues that he hopes to work
through with legislators this ses-sion.
Despite the concerns, he said
Colorado’s medical marijuana has
become a legitimate business in
the past year.
“We do have a constitutional
amendment and a state law in the
Colorado Revised Statutes that
regulate this industry,” Vicente
said. “I think it is legitimate, and I
think it’s going to continue being
one of the few growing areas
of our economy, at least for the
immediate future.”
Fan leaves
The big leaves with as many as 13 leaflets are
what most recognize as the universal image of
marijuana. With the lowest concentration of
THC, they are typically tossed after
being trimmed from the plant.
Sugar leaves
The smaller leaves with a high
concentration of THC are used to
make edibles after being trimmed,
dried and cured.
Stem
After everything is trimmed from it,
the stem can be used as an additive
for tinctures.
Trichomes
The tiny crystals that form on the bud and leaves
determine when the growing cycle is complete.
They also can indicate whether a plant has a high
concentration of THC.
Source: Kevin Fisher, Rocky Mountain Remedies
Nicole miller/staff
Bud
The part of the plant with the highest concentration
of tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids is
the bud. This is what users typically smoke. It also
can be used to make edibles and tinctures after
being trimmed, dried and cured.
Ron Hyman, the state registrar and director of the Office of Vital Statistics Medical
Marijuana Registry, estimates that applications from January are just now being processed.
Marijuana debate blazes on
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not studied marijuana
because it is an illegal drug at the federal level. Across the country, the
medical marijuana debate rages between ardent critics and supporters.
Marijuana critics Marijuana supporters
Marijuana is an addictive drug. In
1999, more than 200,000 Americans
entered substance abuse treatment pri-marily
for marijuana abuse and depen-dence.
More teens are in treatment for
marijuana use than for any other drug,
including alcohol. Adolescent admis-sions
to substance abuse facilities for
marijuana grew from 43 percent of all
adolescent admissions in 1994 to 60
percent in 1999.
Source: www.justice.gov/dea
Long-term studies of students who
use drugs show that very few young
people use other illegal drugs without
first trying marijuana. While not all
people who use marijuana go on to use
other drugs, using marijuana some-times
lowers inhibitions about drug
use and exposes users to a culture that
encourages use of other drugs. The risk
of using cocaine has been estimated
to be more than 104 times greater for
those who have tried marijuana than for
those who have never tried it.
Marijuana affects many skills
required for safe driving. In 1990, the
National Transportation Safety Board
found that just as many fatal accidents
were caused by drivers using marijuana
as were caused by alcohol.
A large percentage of those arrested
for crimes test positive for marijuana.
Nationwide, 40 percent of adult males
test positive for marijuana at the time of
their arrests.
Lung health
According to the National Institutes
of Health, studies show that some-one
who smokes five joints a week
may take in as many cancer-causing
chemicals as someone who smokes a
pack of cigarettes a day. Smoking one
marijuana cigarette deposits about four
times more tar into lungs than a filtered
tobacco cigarette.
Immune system health
Smoking marijuana weakens the
immune system. A Columbia University
study found that those who smoked
one marijuana cigarette every other day
for a year had a white-blood-cell count
that was 39 percent lower than normal.
Heart health
Harvard University researchers
report that the risk of a heart attack is
five times higher than usual in the hour
after smoking marijuana.
Data demonstrate that the reinforc-ing
properties of marijuana are low in
comparison to other drugs, including
alcohol and nicotine. According to the
U.S. Institute of Medicine, fewer than
one in 10 marijuana smokers become
regular users, and most cease their
use after age 34. By comparison, 15
percent of alcohol consumers and 32
percent of tobacco smokers exhibit
symptoms of dependence.
Source: www.norml.org
There is no conclusive evidence
that the effects of marijuana are caus-ally
linked to the subsequent use
of other illicit drugs. For every 104
Americans who have tried marijuana,
there is only one regular user of
cocaine and less than one user of
heroin. For marijuana smokers who
do graduate to harder substances, it is
marijuana prohibition — which forces
users to associate with the drug black
market — that often serves as a door-way
to the world of hard drugs.
As with alcohol consumption, it
must never be an excuse for miscon-duct
or other bad behavior. Driving
or operating heavy equipment while
impaired by marijuana should be
prohibited.
Marijuana does not cause crime.
The majority of marijuana users do
not commit crimes other than pos-sessing
marijuana. Most studies show
that marijuana decreases aggression.
Source: www.drugpolicy.org
Lung health
Like tobacco smoke, marijuana
smoke contains a number of irritants
and carcinogens, but marijuana users
typically smoke much less often than
tobacco users. In a study presented
to the American Thoracic Society in
2006, even heavy users of marijuana
were found not to have any increased
risk of lung cancer.
Immune system health
There is no evidence that marijuana
users are more susceptible to infec-tions
than nonusers. Even among
people with existing immune disor-ders,
marijuana use appears to be
relatively safe.
Heart health
There is no evidence that marijuana
use causes persisting hypertension or
heart disease. Some say it helps con-trol
hypertension by reducing stress.
www.lycaeum.org
Addiction
Gateway drug
Driving under the influence of drugs
Crime
Health

There’s smoke but no fire
Many employers say there is no need for marijuana-specific policies
In the fast-evolving world of
Cheryl Stene, who works in lab technician support at Yampa Valley Medical Center’s YampaWorks, demonstrates how the program performs urine-based drug tests. The tests are
required before working at some Steamboat companies.
A job application for the city of Steamboat Springs notifies applicants that drug testing
is a condition of employment.
Reporting: Jack Weinstein; Photography: Matt Stensland and John F. Russell; Design and graphics: Nicole Miller; Editing: Brent Boyer and Blythe Terrell
medical marijuana, a doc-tor’s
recommendation might
protect you from law enforcement,
but it won’t protect you at work.
Many of Steamboat Springs’
larger employers don’t have poli-cies
related specifically to medical
marijuana. And many of them
said they’ve yet to deal with issues
related to employees who have
been authorized by the state to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes.
That is true for the city of
Steamboat
Springs, Human
Resources Director John Thrasher
said. Because of the city’s existing
drug and alcohol policy, which
prohibits substance abuse, he said
Steamboat may not have to.
“It really is sort of an oddball
one because it’s not an over-the-counter
medication,” Thrasher
said about medical marijuana.
“It’s not prescribed by doctors.
Under federal law, it’s a controlled
substance and according to that,
if being abused, you can’t come to
work doing that.”
Colorado voters approved
Amendment 20 in 2000, making
the use of medical marijuana legal
for patients with certain condi-tions
and a doctor’s recommenda-tion.
Since 2009, it’s estimated that
more than 100,000 Coloradans
have been approved to use medical
marijuana.
Amendment 20 doesn’t pro-vide
protections for employees.
Instead, it states: “Nothing in this
section shall require any employer
to accommodate the medical use
of marijuana in any workplace.”
Despite that, medical mari-juana
advocates said they’ll work
with state legislators to get protec-tions
for employees approved to
use the drug.
“We plan on pushing a
patients’ bill of rights,” said Brian
Vicente,
executive director of
Sensible
Colorado,
an advocate
for medical marijuana patients.
“That would be focused on
establishing some protections for
patients that have been kind of
whittled down in the law.”
No. 1 on Vicente’s list for the
upcoming legislative session is
employment protections.
Of the 14 states where medical
marijuana is legal, only Rhode
Island provides protections for
employees, students and renters,
who can’t be penalized as medical
marijuana cardholders.
Colorado Attorney General
John Suthers said that there
have been no legal challenges
to the employee provision in
Amendment 20 but that he thinks
that’s bound to change.
“One wonders when you’ve
got a couple hundred thousand
people with these permits in the
workplace whether somebody’s
going to allege, ‘You have to
accommodate me,’” Suthers said.
“We’ll see.”
Amendment 20 also states that
no governmental, private or any
other health insurance provider
should be held liable for a claim to
reimburse a patient for the use of
medical marijuana.
Like the city, which employs
275 full-time workers, many of
Steamboat’s larger employers said
they have no specific provisions
in their drug policies related to
medical marijuana. Most take
a zero-tolerance approach to all
controlled substances whether rec-ommended
by a doctor.
Christine McKelvie, spokes-woman
for Yampa Valley Medical
Center, which employs about 550
people, said the hospital’s policy is
to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free
workplace.
“Our policy includes controlled
substances, prescription substanc-es,
over-the-counter medications
and alcohol,” she said. “What
the policy is intended to do and
what we apply it toward is a safe
environment for our patients, our
long-term residents, co-workers
and employees themselves. We
don’t tolerate impairment regard-less
of the source.”
The policies for Steamboat Ski
and Resort Corp., which employs
about 1,900 people, including
part-timers and volunteers during
winter, are intended to provide
a drug-free workplace, Trish
Sullivan, vice president of human
relations, said in a statement.
“Marijuana possession and
use was and remains illegal under
federal law regardless of state
statutes to the contrary, and our
policies must continue to reflect
that,” she said.
Thrasher said the city’s drug
and alcohol policy requires that
some employees, such as bus driv-ers,
take pre-employment drug
screenings. He said employees
are subject to random testing if
their supervisor has “reasonable
suspicion” they are abusing drugs
or alcohol. Thrasher added that if
an employee is caught using drugs
or alcohol at work or tests posi-tive,
the city can take disciplinary
action including termination.
He said it’s going to be inter-esting
as more of Colorado’s
work force is approved to use
medical marijuana. As it stands,
he guesses employers are scratch-ing
their heads about how to
address it.
“I think employers have to
be careful because we do have
concerns about productivity,
workplace safety,” Thrasher said.
“We’re going to take the stance
that if someone is under the
influence of any drug, prescribed
or otherwise, we’re going to take
action. That’s what it boils down
to.”

Growing Pains
Green rush
john f. russell/staff
Aloha’s owner Chris Ward tends to marijuana plants in the grow room of his medical marijuana center in Milner, which opened July 4.
Entrepreneurs cash in on medical marijuana
Part 1: Seeds of controversy Oct. 6
Part 2: Green rush Today
Part 3: Blazing the trail Friday
KKevin Fisher and Ryan Fisher are
building a medical marijuana empire,
though it may not be obvious from their
unassuming warehouse office in the indus-trial
area west of downtown Steamboat
Springs.
The thirtysomethings who traded their
bartending jobs for those of medical
marijuana entrepreneurs — part horticul-turalists,
part marketing geniuses and part
health care workers — have made Rocky
Mountain Remedies one of the largest
medical marijuana centers in Colorado
Stories by
Jack Weinstein
based on number of patients served. And
Steamboat’s first medical marijuana center
continues to expand, with its owners rein-vesting
some of their profits back into the
business.
More than 1,000 regular monthly
patients later, it’s fair to say their efforts are
paying off.

2 | Growing Pains: Part 2 Thursday, October 7, 2010 Steamboat Pilot & Today
Those 1,000 regulars are
less than half of the more than
2,000 customers from Northwest
Colorado and the Front Range
who have bought medical
marijuana and other products at
Rocky Mountain Remedies since
it opened.
After launching the business
with only the money in their bank
accounts and by maxing out credit
cards, Ryan Fisher said they’ve
spent “well, well into the six fig-ures”
investing in five grow opera-tions,
two of which are in Boulder.
They paid more than $20,000 in
fees in August for a state license.
The business pays sales and prop-erty
taxes and rent in Steamboat.
It employs 16 full-time workers,
which includes the owners.
“Our mentality is we’re in it
for the long haul, reinvesting, tak-ing
care of our customers,” Ryan
Fisher said.
The timing was right for Kevin
Fisher and Ryan Fisher, who are
not related. They opened Rocky
Mountain Remedies on the cusp
of a statewide medical marijuana
explosion.
Medical marijuana became
legal for patients with certain
conditions and a doctor’s recom-mendation
when Colorado voters
approved Amendment 20 in 2000.
But it took nearly a decade for the
industry to really take root.
In fall 2009, the industry took
off after the Colorado Board of
Health opted not to impose a
limit on the number of patients a
caregiver could provide marijuana
for. When the U.S. Department of
Justice instructed prosecutors not
to use federal resources against
people who comply with state
medical marijuana laws, the doors
blew wide open.
The medical marijuana
patient registry at the Colorado
Department of Public Health and
Environment soared to an estimat-ed
113,0000 as of Aug. 31. And
medical marijuana centers started
popping up all across the state
beginning in 2009 — especially
in Denver, Colorado Springs and
Boulder — reaching an estimated
high of 1,100.
“This whole new business
had sprung up,” said Matt
Brown, director of public policy
for Coloradans for Medical
Marijuana Regulation, an advo-cacy
group for center owners,
growers and infused-product
makers.
Growth industry
Allen St. Pierre, the director
of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws
in Washington, D.C., said in
an August telephone interview
that Colorado is unique, having
moved from self-preservation
(patient and caregiver model) to
commercial distribution (medical
marijuana centers) without the
law changing first.
Colorado’s first medical mari-juana
Medical marijuana centers are highly concentrated along South Broadway Street in Denver. The number of centers in Colorado has been estimated as high as 1,100.
center opened in Denver
in 2004. Michael Lee, owner
of Cannabis Therapeutics in
Colorado Springs, said in August
that his center was the second to
open statewide in 2004 and is the
oldest surviving center.
“I was the only one in the
state operating for five years.
Now there’s 230 in Colorado
Springs,” Lee said.
St. Pierre said only after the
industry was established did
state government decide to step
in and regulate it. He said only
Montana is doing something
similar.
“It’s happening,” St. Pierre
said. “And it’s not happening
anywhere else in the country like
this.”
Martin Chilcutt, the creator
of Amendment 20, moved to
Kalamazoo, Mich., five years
ago but returned to Denver in
summer 2009 to see how far
Colorado’s medical marijuana
industry had come.
A former member of the
U.S. Navy and a psychologist,
Chilcutt said in a telephone
interview that he was prompted
to become an activist for mari-juana
legislation after seeing
the positive impacts it had on
the veterans he counseled. But
as a longtime marijuana user,
Chilcutt said he already knew
marijuana’s medical benefits
after using it while battling can-cer
and to treat post-traumatic
stress disorder.
Chilcutt, now 76, said the
intention of Amendment 20 was
to create a constitutional amend-ment
that, when approved,
couldn’t be changed. He said it
also was written, with the help
of his attorneys, in a way that
was flexible enough to allow the
medical marijuana industry to
evolve into a workable system
that would benefit patients.
Some, including Colorado
Attorney General John Suthers
and Colorado Chief Medical
Officer Ned Calonge, have said
they don’t think medical mari-juana
centers were what voters
had in mind when they approved
Amendment 20.
But Chilcutt said a corner
drugstore type of distribution
model was part of the evolution
he envisioned for Amendment
20. He just didn’t know to what
extent.
“I was shocked,” Chilcutt
said. “My very first impres-sion
matt stensland/staff
was, ‘Great. It’s working.
Dispensaries are opening, and
there’s a delivery system in pro-cess.’
I thought, ‘This is great.
It’s wonderful.’”
Despite the number of
medical marijuana centers —
formerly called dispensaries —
some owners like Flo Barron,
who runs Little Brown House
on South Broadway Street in
Denver, don’t mind being in
close proximity to other centers.
Little Brown House, which
opened in September 2009, is
within 1,000 feet of medical
marijuana centers Colorado
Wellness,
the Green Depot Medical
Dispensary and Walking
Raven.
“There’s enough patients to
go around,” Barron said. “So it’s
not like we’re in competition.”
Flo Barron, who owns Little Brown House on South Broadway Street in Denver, doesn’t
mind being near three other medical marijuana centers.
East Colfax Avenue in Denver also has a large concentration of medical marijuana
centers, some next door to each other.

Steamboat Pilot & Today Growing Pains: Part 2 Thursday, October 7, 2010 | 3
Marijuana cultivation
Indoor organic dirt grow (15 to 30 weeks)
1
A clipping from a mature
female plant is placed in
an organic sponge inside
a plastic container for
six to 10 days.
When it gets big enough,
the plant is moved to a
16-ounce cup, where it
stays for 10 to 14 days,
receiving light, water and
other nutrients.
2
As the roots continue to
grow, it is moved into
larger containers, first
to a 1-gallon pot where
it stays for one to two
weeks.
Source: Kevin Fisher, Rocky Mountain Remedies
3
The plant then is moved
from the 1-gallon pot to
a 5-gallon bucket, where
it stays for three to five
weeks.
4
The plants are moved
to another room and
exposed to 12 hours of
light and 12 hours of
darkness each day to
flower, or bud, for
six to 12 weeks.
5
The buds are trimmed
from the plant, and the
fan leaves are removed.
The buds are hung to dry
for four to six days, and
then the sugar leaves are
trimmed off.
6
After drying, the buds
are placed in airtight
glass jars to cure for
two to four weeks.
7
The buds are moved to
plastic bags after the
cultivation process.
8
Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, describes the clusters of medical marijuana centers in Denver. Vicente says
medical marijuana centers are occupying Denver commercial spaces that had been vacant, boosting the Denver real estate market.
Starting a business
Before the medical marijuana
center boom, Brian Vicente,
executive director of Sensible
Colorado, an advocate for the
state’s medical marijuana patients,
said Denver was littered with
empty commercial spaces.
“Now they’re operating busi-nesses,
paying property and sales
taxes,” Vicente said in August. “It’s
kind of turned around the Denver
real estate market. It’s a fascinat-ing
transformation occurring in
small towns and big towns. These
are contributing members of the
community.”
What started on the Front
Range soon spread to Northwest
Colorado.
Dave Epstein, property man-ager
for Downhill Plaza in Steamboat
Springs, said Rocky Mountain
Remedies rents four of his
2,500-square-foot units and soon
will rent a fifth for its commercial
operation, grow operation and
apartments for employees.
“It’s been good for the real
estate rental market,” he said. “My
units would be vacant right now if
it wasn’t for them.”
It’s all part of a business oppor-tunity
seized by the two Fishers,
who compared what they’re doing
to founding a tech company dur-ing
the dot-com startup craze.
The 34-year-olds, who moved
to Steamboat for the mountain
lifestyle after graduating from col-lege
about a decade before, said
they wanted to open a business.
But after working in Steamboat’s
service industry, they said starting
a restaurant wasn’t on the list.
The “like-minded enthusiasts”
thought they could make a medi-cal
marijuana center work.
“Many people in town had been
self-medicating for years,” Kevin
Fisher said. “We thought if we
could get early in the market, any
market, it was the thing to do.”
Rocky Mountain Remedies,
Each leaf on Brian Vicente’s map represents a medical marijuana center in Denver.
along with D and C Medical
Marijuana
and Therapeutic Massage,
opened in August 2009
before the city of Steamboat
Springs had an ordinance in place
to regulate marijuana centers.
The city allowed the businesses
to open with operating guidelines
from the Steamboat Springs Police
Department.
In August 2009, city leaders
imposed a 90-day moratorium on
new medical marijuana centers,
giving them time to draft an ordi-nance
that would help regulate
the industry at the local level. The
ordinance, approved in January
2010, capped the number of
centers within city limits at three
— two for-profit businesses and
one cooperative model. Natural
Choice Co-op, which since has
dropped the co-op from its name,
was the third.
Provisions included distance
restrictions from schools, manda-tory
background checks for own-ers,
restricted hours of operation
and limited exterior signage.
Other Routt County com-munities
have taken different
approaches.
The Yampa Town Board opted
against drafting an ordinance to
regulate centers, treating them
as any other business after J-Jay
Johnson opened LMS Dispensary
in December 2009 in Leisure
Mountain Studio, a coffee shop
and gallery he operated with his
wife.
The Oak Creek Town Board
also opted against an ordinance
regulating medical marijuana
businesses, instead referring the
issue to the Oak Creek Planning
Commission. Commissioners
approved a land-use change and
recommended the Town Board
approve a request for Mary’s
medical marijuana center.
For unincorporated Routt
County, the Routt County Board
of Commissioners approved a
conditional land-use application
May 11 for Aloha’s in Milner.
Commissioners
required owner
Chris Ward to make 17 changes
to his facility, which transformed
it from a residential to a com-mercial
building. The business
opened July 4. The county since
has imposed a moratorium on
new medical marijuana centers
through Dec. 31.
When Aloha’s opened, it was
the sixth medical marijuana center
operating in Routt County.

Routt County medical marijuana timeline
Aug. 5, 2009
The Steamboat
Springs City Council
votes not to impose
an emergency
moratorium on
medical marijuana
businesses.
August 2009
Rocky Mountain
Remedies and D and
C Medical Marijuana
and Therapeutic
Massage open and
agree to follow
Steamboat Springs
Police Department
guidelines.
December 2009
Aloha Mobile
Caregivers opens.
The business is based
in Denver but serves
patients in Routt,
Moffat and Summit
counties. LMS
Dispensary opens
Aug. 18, 2009
The Steamboat
enacts a 90-day
moratorium, which
prevents other
businesses from
opening until a
medical marijuana
ordinance is drafted.
in Yampa.
Dec. 1, 2009
The Steamboat
approves a first
reading of the
medical marijuana
ordinance but asks
city attorneys to make
revisions.
Dec. 15, 2009
The Steamboat
delays the second
reading of the medical
marijuana ordinance
because Councilman
Jon Quinn questions
a provision that would
allow law enforcement
to access security
footage at any time.
Jan. 14, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board declines to
impose a moratorium
or take action on a
medical marijuana
center application
from a group led by
Stagecoach resident
Jan. 5, 2010
The Steamboat
approves a second
reading of the
medical marijuana
ordinance, permitting
two for-profit centers
and one cooperative.
Jacob Wise.
Jan. 28, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board approves a
six-month conditional
license for Mary’s, the
center for the group
led by Jacob Wise.
Jan. 20, 2010
The Oak Creek
Planning Commission
approves a land-use
change that would
allow a medical
marijuana center and
recommends the Oak
Creek Town Board
approve the change.
March 12, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board approves a
medical marijuana
Feb. 2, 2010
The Steamboat
OKs business licenses
for Rocky Mountain
Remedies, D and C
Medical Marijuana
and Therapeutic
Massage, and Natural
Choice Co-op.
ordinance and
imposes a 180-day
moratorium to
consider land-use
changes for grow
operations.
Generating revenue
Ward got his start in the mari-juana
business at a young age.
Among the Hawaiian décor
on the walls of his Milner medi-cal
marijuana center, there’s a
framed photo of a 6-year-old
Ward in the grow fields on
Kauai, where he lived until he
was 18.
Ward, a former pro skier
and father of five, said Aloha’s
grossed $22,000 in sales in its
first month, but very little of
it was profit. Ward, who since
has sold medical marijuana and
related products to more than
360 patients, said he hopes the
business makes money.
“Maybe I’ll make a profit
someday, but right now, I’m still
covering things,” said Ward, who
also owns snow and tree removal
businesses in Steamboat.
Wise, owner of Mary’s in Oak
Creek, has a similar story.
“I pay sales tax, but unfortu-nately
sales haven’t been tremen-dous,”
he said. “I’ve invested a
tremendous amount, but basi-cally
— so far — I haven’t made
anything.”
Special Agent Mike Turner,
of the Denver office of the Drug
Enforcement Administration,
said he has heard estimates that
medical marijuana centers on the
Front Range make as much as
$25,000 to $50,000 a week.
Industry advocates and center
owners dispute those numbers.
“Everyone thinks the margins
are huge and fat,” Kevin Fisher
said. “It’s not. It’s not like grow-ing
a few plants in your closet
and selling that on the street
with no overhead. It’s a com-pletely
different paradigm than
that.”
Despite the success of Rocky
Mountain Remedies and the
fact Steamboat has two other
medical marijuana centers, the
impact to city sales tax revenues
is unclear.
Kim Weber, revenue supervi-sor
for Steamboat, said the city
generated $5,000 to $30,000 in
sales tax revenue from medi-cal
marijuana since August
2009. She declined to provide
a more specific figure because
Steamboat has only three medi-cal
marijuana centers, and she
didn’t want to single out any one
business.
Although the sales tax rev-enue
generated from medical
marijuana in Steamboat is a
fraction of what the city collects
annually, other Colorado cities
are starting to reap the financial
rewards provided by medical
marijuana centers.
A March 2010 story in the
Boulder Daily Camera indicated
that Boulder generated nearly
$74,000 in sales taxes from
medical marijuana sales in 2009.
City officials estimated that
Boulder’s 105 centers could gen-erate
nearly $300,000 in sales
tax this year.
The Colorado Springs
Gazette, in an Aug. 12 story,
reported that medical marijuana
sales generated $327,000 in sales
tax revenue there since January
2009. Colorado Springs, which
at one time had 230 medical
marijuana centers, generated
$111,000 in sales tax revenue in
2009.
Brown, of Coloradans for
Medical Marijuana Regulation,
and Vicente, of Sensible Colorado,
said there has been no recent
study based on the existing num-ber
of medical marijuana card-holders
to determine how much
the industry could generate.
They said the medical marijuana
industry has the potential for
an annual economic impact of
hundreds of millions of dollars
across Colorado.
“It is significant, but we don’t
have approximate numbers,”
Brown said.
Rocky Mountain Remedies co-owner Kevin Fisher Ryan Fisher, one of the owners of Rocky Mountain Remedies in Steamboat Springs, hangs marijuana buds to dry.
Business information
Medical marijuana centers in
Routt County
■ Aloha’s
970-875-0420
21600 U.S. Highway 40, Milner
alohamobilecaregivers@gmail.com
■ D and C Medical Marijuana
and Therapeutic Massage
970-870-2941
410 S. Lincoln Ave., Suite A7,
Steamboat Springs
sites.google.com/site/dandcmedical/
■ Mary’s
970-736-8212
200 S. Sharp St., Oak Creek
marysmedical@gmail.com
■ Natural Choice
970-879-4420
1707 Copper Ridge Spur, Unit A,
Steamboat Springs
www.naturalchoicemmj.com
■ Rocky Mountain Remedies
970-871-2768
2750 Downhill Plaza, No. 205,
Steamboat Springs
www.rockymountainremedies.com

Fisher trims buds inside the grow room at his center in Steamboat Springs. The business employs 16 full-time workers and is one of the largest centers in the state based on number of patients served.
April 18, 2010
Rocky Mountain
Remedies’ Kandy
Kush wins best strain
at the inaugural
Western Slope
Cannabis Crown in
Aspen.
May 11, 2010
The Routt
County Board of
Commissioners
approves a conditional
land-use application
for Aloha’s in Milner
but requires owner
Chris Ward to make
17 changes to his
facility.
June 8, 2010
The Routt
County Board of
Commissioners
approves a
moratorium to
prohibit businesses
from applying to
operate a medical
marijuana center in
the county through
May 20, 2010
The Hayden Town
Council votes not to
amend the town’s
land-use code to
allow medical
marijuana centers.
Dec. 31.
June 25, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board approves a
request from Mary’s
owner Jacob Wise
to operate a kitchen
to make medical-marijuana-
infused
products.
July 4, 2010
Aloha’s opens
in Milner.
July 16, 2010
The Hayden Town
Council hears a first
reading of an
ordinance prohibiting
medical marijuana
centers.
July 22, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board approves a
proposal from two
Summit County
residents for a grow
operation and
commercial kitchen
in town but denies
their request to open
a center.
Aug. 19, 2010
The Hayden Town
Council approves an
ordinance prohibiting
medical marijuana
Aug. 1, 2010
Medical marijuana
centers, growers
and infused-product
makers are required
to apply for state
licenses. LMS
Dispensary in Yampa
doesn’t apply and
later closes.
centers. The
ordinance doesn’t
affect a medical
marijuana
cardholder’s personal
use or cultivation.
Sept. 9, 2010
The Oak Creek Town
Board refers Jacob
Wise’s request
to operate an
1,800-square-foot
grow operation in
downtown Oak
Creek to the Oak
Creek Planning
Commission, which
meets Oct. 20.
Sept. 1, 2010
The Yampa Town
Board adopts a
moratorium on
medical marijuana
businesses until
July 1, 2011, which
coincides with the
moratorium imposed
by House Bill 1284.

Regulating the business
At about the same time
Steamboat and other Colorado
communities were creating ordi-nances
to regulate medical mari-juana
businesses, the Colorado
General Assembly’s 2010 legisla-tive
session was just beginning.
Rep. Tom Massey, a Poncha
Springs Republican, said in early
September that the proliferation
of medical marijuana centers
led to some problems for law
enforcement and issues related to
safety and security.
“We felt like we had to deal
with it in the legislative session,”
Massey said in a telephone
interview, adding that he and
Sen. Chris Romer, a Denver
Democrat, had started drafting
the legislation the previous sum-mer
. Massey said the legislation
that would eventually become
House Bill 1284 was intended
to regulate Colorado’s medical
marijuana industry from “top to
bottom.”
Coloradans for Medical
Marijuana Regulation was born
after the industry took off and
when people needed guidance
about how to open a business,
Brown said. Then a small-business
consultant, Brown said
people who wanted to do things
the right way and without get-ting
into trouble approached him
for help.
Brown said the regulations
were welcome from a business
community desperate for guid-ance
and clamoring to prove it
wasn’t operating illegally.
“We knew going into this that
the regulations would require a
lot of depth, creating an agricul-tural
commodity and medical
product from scratch,” he said.
“In that context, House Bill 1284
is better than anyone could have
expected.”
Legislators in May approved
House Bill 1284 along with Senate
Bill 109, which was designed to
regulate the medical side of the
industry. Gov. Bill Ritter signed
both into law in June.
Among its many provisions, the
legislation doesn’t permit medical
marijuana center owners who have
been convicted of a drug felony
in the previous five years from the
time they submit an application
for a business license.
Another provision required
centers to certify they were grow-ing
70 percent of their marijuana
by Sept. 1. Center owners also
are subject to storage and trans-portation,
sanitation, labeling,
record-keeping and tax-reporting
requirements, in addition to
extensive security provisions.
Matt Cook, senior director
of enforcement for the Colorado
Department of Revenue, has
said center owners would be
monitored by video surveillance
from “seed to sale.” During an
August telephone interview,
Cook said he was about to start
working with medical marijuana
stakeholders to draft rules that
would regulate the industry.
He released 92 pages of draft
rules after the first rule-making
meeting with stakeholders Aug.
27.
House Bill 1284
Colorado House Bill 1284 was
created to regulate the business
side of Colorado’s medical marijuana
industry. Here are some highlights:
■ Medical marijuana center owners,
growers and infused-product mak-ers
were required to apply for a state
license by Aug. 1. After Aug. 1, any
business that applies cannot open
until July 1, 2011.
■ Medical marijuana centers were
required to prove they were growing
70 percent of the marijuana necessary
for their operation by Sept. 1.
■ Local municipalities can prohibit
medical marijuana businesses.
■ The Department of Revenue has
authority to create rules to govern the
state’s medical marijuana industry.
■ The state should request that the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
move marijuana from a Schedule 1
controlled substance to a Schedule 2
controlled substance by Jan. 1, 2012.
■ Medical marijuana center owners
are subject to security, storage and
transportation, sanitation, record-keep-ing
and tax-reporting requirements.
■ People are prohibited from operat-ing
medical marijuana businesses if
they: are licensed physicians making
patient recommendations; are younger
than 21; owe taxes, are in default on
student loans or owe child support;
have a felony drug conviction in the
past five years; are a law enforcement
officer; have not been a resident of
Colorado for at least two years.
■ Prospective medical marijuana busi-ness
owners are required to submit
their fingerprints for criminal back-ground
checks.
■ Medical marijuana centers can-not
be located within 1,000 feet of a
school, alcohol or drug treatment facil-ity,
college campus or child care facil-ity
unless a local municipality imposes
a different distance restriction. Centers
can operate only from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
■ The locations of grow operations
are exempt from the Colorado Open
Records Act.
■ Medical marijuana businesses are
required to collect sales tax.
■ Smoking or consumption of mari-juana
and related products is prohib-ited
at medical marijuana centers.
■ Fees paid by the medical marijuana
industry can be used only by the
medical marijuana program and not
transferred to any other state fund.
■ The Department of Revenue has the
authority to revoke medical marijuana
business licenses after an investigation
and public hearing.
■ Medical marijuana centers are
allowed to grow as many as six plants
and possess as much as 2 ounces for
each patient who has designated the
center as his or her primary center,
unless the patient has gotten authori-zation
from a doctor to possess more.
■ Caregivers are limited to five
patients, and patients are required to
have only one caregiver at a time.
■ Half of the first $2 million in sales
taxes generated by the sale of medi-cal
marijuana must be given to the
Colorado Department of Human
Services for juveniles and adults with
substance abuse needs, and the other
half must be given to the Department
of Health Care Policy and Financing for
screening, intervention and treatment
for people at risk of substance abuse.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes
Chris Ward, owner of Aloha’s, tends to the plants inside the grow house at his center in Milner. Ward said his business is not yet profitable.
Chris Ward has sold medical marijuana and related products to more than 360 patients at Aloha’s in Milner.

Colo.
N.M.
Wash.
Some center owners said the
new legislation weeded out those
business owners who wanted
only to make money and didn’t
care about the well-being of
patients.
“It’s getting rid of all the
fakes and underground people,”
said Emanuel Bernal, owner
of Platte Valley Dispensary in
Denver, during an interview at
Cannabis Festiva. Dubbed the
largest outdoor cannabis festi-val
in Colorado, the event was
held Aug. 21 at Dick’s Sporting
Goods Park in Commerce City.
But not everyone in the
medical marijuana industry was
pleased with the legislation.
At the Medical Marijuana
Business Alliance meeting held
at Casselman’s Bar & Venue in
downtown Denver, Laura Kriho,
of the Boulder-based Cannabis
Therapy Institute, said the legis-lation
merely outlines new ways
for people to go to jail.
“For every new regulation
Maine
they add, there’s going to be a
new penalty,” she said.
Improving the image
What Kriho sees as prohibi-tive,
many in the medical mari-juana
industry see as an oppor-tunity
to prove their legitimacy.
Cheryl Brown, president of
the Medical Marijuana Business
Alliance, said the organization
works to promote and protect
the industry.
“The image we want to
portray to the rest of the com-munity
is it’s a legitimate indus-try,
one of the fastest-growing
in the state,” she said at the
meeting.“We’re putting people to
work, small businesses are being
created, and it’s excellent revenue
for counties, cities and the state.
Everybody is getting a piece of
the action.”
House Bill 1284 required
medical marijuana centers, grow-ers
and infused-product makers
to apply for a state license by
Aug. 1. The cost of the fees,
which ranged from $7,500 to
$18,000 for a single license,
forced J-Jay Johnson to close
LMS Dispensary in Yampa.
Johnson said the system
wasn’t conducive to small busi-nesses
like his that served older
patients, mostly with marijuana
edibles and tinctures.
Cook said 809 centers sub-mitted
applications in three
categories based on the number
of patients who have designated
them as their primary centers.
Based on its number of patients,
Rocky Mountain Remedies is
among the 36 largest in the state.
In addition to the centers,
1,219 growers and 309 infused-product
makers submitted appli-cations,
bringing the total num-ber
of Colorado medical mari-juana
businesses to 2,337. Cook
said the applications generated
more than $8 million in fees.
Although the fees can’t be
used to offset the state budget
deficit, according to the legisla-tion,
they will be used to regulate
the medical marijuana industry.
Cook said the legislation gives
him the authority to hire one
person for every 10 centers to
conduct background checks,
inspections and investigations
— about 80 new employees if he
needs all of them.
The Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment
also was given the authority
to hire additional employees,
tripling the size of its Medical
Marijuana Registry staff to 33.
The registry, which reviews medi-cal
marijuana patient applica-tions,
receives about 1,000 pieces
of mail a day, the majority with
$90 application fees enclosed.
In addition to Rocky Mountain
Remedies, which expected
to employ 20 full-time workers
by Oct. 1, other local medical
marijuana centers are putting
people to work. Ward, who owns
Aloha’s, now has six employees,
three who are full time. And
Jacob Wise, owner of Mary’s in
Oak Creek, wants to expand his
tincture business to employ more
than 30 in the next two years.
Most of those involved in
the medical marijuana industry
acknowledge that House Bill
1284 requires more work this
legislative session and in sessions
to come. But Rep. Massey said
it’s a good start.
“Overall, I think we did a
pretty good job of crafting a
comprehensive regulatory struc-ture,
and we’re hearing from
other states that want to use it as
a model,” Massey said.
Cardholders by state
Registered medical marijuana patients
States that approved
medical marijuana
State Registered patients Population Percent registered
Alaska 326 698,473 0.05 percent
California 540,000 to 680,000 36,961,664 1.5 to 1.8 percent
Colorado 113,000 5,024,748 2.2 percent
D.C. No patients 599,657 Zero percent
Hawaii 8,255 1,295,178 0.64 percent
Maine 36 1,318,301 0.003 percent
Michigan 26,387 9,969,727 0.26 percent
Montana 19,635 974,989 2.01 percent
Nevada 2,247 2,643,085 0.09 percent
New Jersey No patients 8,707,739 Zero percent
New Mexico 2,291 2,009,671 0.11 percent
Oregon 36,380 3,825,657 0.95 percent
Rhode Island 2,175 1,053,209 0.20 percent
Vermont 249 621,760 0.04 percent
Washington No registry 6,664,195 Not available
Clarifications
■ State populations are 2009 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
■ Applying to Maine’s medical marijuana registry is optional through January.
■ New Jersey and D.C. medical marijuana programs have not started.
■ California and Colorado registered patient numbers are estimates. All others are
the most current data available.
Sources: Government agencies, California NORML
Alaska
Nev.
Calif.
Mont.
Ore.
Hawaii
Mich.
N.J.R.I.
Vt.
Nicole Miller/staff
Chris Ward holds a jar of medical marijuana ready to be purchased by patients at Aloha’s in Milner.
Stems of marijuana hang in the drying
room at Rocky Mountain Remedies in
Steamboat Springs.
Pipes line a vendor table in Denver at the Aug. 21 Cannabis Festiva in Commerce City.
The event is dubbed the largest outdoor cannabis festival in Colorado.

Not just about the weed
Colorado medical marijuana centers capitalize on a variety of products
Smoking marijuana isn’t
the only way to consume
it.
Colorado’s medical mari-juana
centers typically offer
a variety of infused products,
from baked goods to tinctures
and just about everything in
between.
Rocky Mountain Remedies
in Steamboat Springs has about
100 unique products for sale.
From two dozen strains of medi-cal
marijuana — including the
Western Slope Cannabis Crown-winning
Kandy Kush — to more
than a half-dozen hashes, 15
edibles, 15 tinctures and eight
sodas.
There’s also a wide variety of
paraphernalia, including pipes,
bubblers and bongs. Rocky
Mountain Remedies even sells
T-shirts.
Despite the array of products,
Rocky Mountain Remedies’
bread and butter continues to be
its medical marijuana.
“Whatever we put on the
shelf, 80 percent of our busi-ness
is plain ole nug,” co-owner
Kevin Fisher said, using a slang
term for high-quality marijuana
buds.
He quickly corrected himself.
“Not ‘plain ole’ — killer.”
On the Front Range, Michael
Lee, owner of Cannabis
Therapeutics in Colorado
Springs, stocks 84 medical mari-juana
products on his shelves.
In addition to marijuana in its
traditional form, he sells pot-infused
edibles such as cookies,
brownies and muffins.
Baked goods often are made
with marijuana butter. Dried
marijuana can be added to but-ter,
brought to a boil, simmered,
cooled and used as regular but-ter
would be.
Lee also sells marijuana-infused
chocolate, candies, gra-nola
bars, gum, popcorn, beef
jerky, cheese, spaghetti sauce,
cough drops, muscle rubs and
even suppositories. In August,
Lee stocked 14 kinds of organic
soap, four types of bubble bath,
bath soaps and shower gels. And
he produces it all himself.
“If you can imagine it or ask
for it, we make it,” Lee said.
Routt County’s other medical
marijuana centers also promote
a variety of products.
JJ Southard, operations
supervisor for Natural Choice
in Steamboat, said he hopes the
center’s seed bank — offering
Rules also regulate infused-product makers
marijuana plant seeds from as
far away as Europe — becomes
its niche in the marketplace.
Jacob Wise, owner of Mary’s
in Oak Creek, similarly hopes to
expand his tincture business. Wise
said in August that he thinks the
alcohol- or glycerin-based liq-uid
extract typically made from
dried marijuana offers more of a
medical application than simply
smoking pot. It’s applied in small
amounts through an eyedropper
on the tongue.
Like his counterparts at
Rocky Mountain Remedies,
Wise acknowledged that selling
medical marijuana continues
to make up the majority of his
business. But he thinks tinctures
will become more popular.
“I have five people within
walking distance that have never
smoked pot who are on tinc-tures,”
he said. “The results are
amazing.”
Reporting: Jack Weinstein; Photography: Matt Stensland and John F. Russell; Design and graphics: Nicole Miller; Editing: Brent Boyer and Blythe Terrell
Michael Lee, owner of Cannabis Therapeutics in Colorado Springs, says his center has 84 medical marijuana products on its shelves, including beef jerky and spaghetti sauce.
Patients who enter Rocky Mountain Remedies will find a wide selection of marijuana.
Many patients prefer to smoke it, but the Steamboat Springs business also offers
edibles, drinks and tinctures with varieties of marijuana in them.
Like medical marijuana center own-ers,
infused-product makers were
required by House Bill 1284 to apply
for a Colorado Department of Revenue
license, submit to a criminal back-ground
check and pay a $1,250 fee by
Aug. 1. More than 300 people statewide
applied for the license.
To apply, infused-product mak-ers
were required to have business
licenses from their local municipalities.
Steamboat Springs senior city plan-ner
Bob Keenan said last month that
the city has not licensed any infused-product
makers.
The legislation subjects infused-prod-uct
makers to labeling and sanitation
requirements. Infused-product makers
can partner with medical marijuana cen-ters
or cultivate their own marijuana if
they obtain a separate growers license.
However, infused-product makers who
grow their own marijuana can use it
only for the production of infused prod-ucts.
Licensed infused-product makers
also are permitted to sell their products
to any licensed medical marijuana
center.

Growing Pains
Genovations Creations’ Chief Science Officer John Kopta works at the Colorado Springs-based lab to isolate cannabinoids, the marijuana compounds with medicinal properties.
Blazing the trail
Spotlight lands on Colorado, the medical marijuana leader TThe room erupted in applause after
Part 1: Seeds of controversy Oct. 6
Part 2: Green rush Oct. 7
Part 3: Blazing the trail Today
Kush Magazine Publisher Michael
Lerner told a packed audience of more
than 300 center owners, infused-product
makers and growers at the Medical
Marijuana Business Alliance’s August
networking meeting that “Colorado is so
far ahead of the rest of the country in
this industry, there is no second.”
It was a common reaction to the
speakers throughout the night at
Casselman’s Bar & Venue in downtown
Denver. They whistled, whooped and
Stories by
Jack Weinstein
hollered when Matt Cook, a career law
enforcement officer charged with oversee-ing
the state’s medical marijuana indus-try,
said, “It truly is a privilege to grow
with this industry as we moved forward.”
It seemed like the group felt it was part
of something big. The industry had come
so far, and there was still room for growth.

2 | Growing Pains: Part 3 Friday, October 8, 2010 Steamboat Pilot & Today
“For me, the energy is crack-ling,”
said Brett Magdovitz, who
is part of a group that owns
three Front Range medical mari-juana
centers and several prod-uct
lines. “This is history in the
making.”
A few days later, at Cannabis
Festiva at Dick’s Sporting Goods
Park in Commerce City, Lerner
drove home his point.
“I feel Colorado — being
the leader — is basically pav-ing
the way for the rest of the
world,” said Lerner, publisher
of the Calabasas, Calif.-based
Kush Magazine, which has local
editions in 34 cities in 14 states.
“I think the capital for medical
marijuana is right here.”
An estimated 113,000 Coloradans
have been approved to
use medical marijuana, which
became legal after state voters
passed Amendment 20 in 2000.
Now medical marijuana
centers number more than 800,
a majority of which are in the
Front Range cities of Denver,
Colorado Springs and Boulder.
The industry has taken root
across the state and quickly
spread to mountain towns such
as Steamboat Springs, where
three medical marijuana centers
serve a population of about
12,000.
Perhaps more profound is
the societal impact of medical
marijuana’s sudden rise. With
marijuana-related advertisements
bombarding residents young and
old in newspapers, on TV and
on storefronts across the state,
it quickly is becoming a part of
Colorado culture. But the indus-try’s
future still is hazy.
“I think it is becoming more
a part of the community all over
Colorado,” Steamboat Springs
City Council President Cari
Hermacinski said in August.
“The big concern going forward
for me: The state has passed new
rules. I don’t know whether that
simplifies matters or complicates
them for Steamboat.”
Legitimizing a culture
Marijuana long has been a
part of Steamboat Springs cul-ture,
City Council member Jon
Quinn said.
“I think particularly in
Steamboat, there’s always been
this accepted underground
culture in which marijuana has
been accepted for decades,” he
said. “If you visit other com-munities,
that might be differ-ent.”
There was little opposition
among city leadership to allow-ing
medical marijuana centers
in Steamboat. The City Council
allowed two such businesses
to open in August 2009 before
imposing a moratorium that
gave the city time to craft an
ordinance to formally regulate
the industry. That ordinance was
approved in January.
Events like Cannabis Festiva, which was held Aug. 21 in Commerce City and billed as the largest outdoor medical marijuana festival in Colorado, are becoming more common.
Kush Magazine, one of the event’s sponsors, plans to bring its world conference to Denver in May. Kush Publisher Michael Lerner said the convention could attract as many as
250,000 people to the Colorado Convention Center and generate as much as $10 million in revenue for the city.

Steamboat Pilot & Today Growing Pains: Part 3 Friday, October 8, 2010 | 3
Read the series online
Some City Council members
are reconsidering whether capping
the number of medical marijuana
centers at three — two for-profit
businesses and one cooperative —
created a monopoly instead of a
competitive marketplace for busi-ness
owners and customers.
Kenny Reisman was the only
member of the City Council who
voted against the ordinance in
January, citing his preference for
no cap and a higher license fee.
In August, Reisman said a higher
license fee would have required a
larger commitment from center
owners.
“We as a government were try-ing
to balance a lot of different
entities: patients, businesses, the
police department,” he said. “I
almost felt more was better if it
came with a higher price tag.”
The passage of House Bill 1284
and Senate Bill 109 — legislation
created to regulate the business
and medical sides, respectively,
of the state’s medical marijuana
industry — will require the city
to amend its medical marijuana
ordinance.
“I would be surprised if the
new ordinance restricts the num-ber
to three,” Quinn said. “We
may restrict to some number, but I
have a feeling that number will be
more than three.”
Hermacinski agreed that
Steamboat’s new ordinance, which
City Attorney Tony Lettunich
plans to propose to the council
this fall, could allow more medi-cal
marijuana centers. Whatever
that number might be, budding
entrepreneurs still will have to
wait. House Bill 1284, passed by
the General Assembly this spring,
imposed a moratorium preventing
new medical marijuana businesses
from opening before July 1, 2011.
Some Steamboat medical
marijuana center owners disagree
that the City Council’s ordinance
stifled competition.
“It’s not a monopoly,” said
Kevin Fisher, co-owner of Rocky
Mountain Remedies. “There’s
a monopoly if it’s one. There’s
three.”
Challenges loom
Like Steamboat, other com-munities
are grappling with
amending existing medical mari-juana
ordinances. Some will leave
it to voters to decide whether to
allow marijuana businesses in
their communities. And some,
including Hayden, already have
banned medical marijuana busi-nesses.
That ban was made possible
by the passage of House Bill
1284. The provision is one of
several that medical marijuana
Different towns, different approaches
Some towns have banned medical marijuana centers; others are seeking voter guidance in November
De Beque Castle Rock
advocates say they will lobby to
change in the upcoming legisla-tive
session.
“It’s our belief patients have
the right to access marijuana
in a convenient manner in their
communities,” said Brian
Vicente, executive director of
patient advocacy group Sensible
Colorado. “They shouldn’t have
to get on the bus to go out of the
city or county to get the medicine
that their doctor says they need.”
There also could be a chal-lenge
of Gov. Bill Ritter’s pro-posal

Loveland
Grand
Lake
U.S. 285
to use $9 million in revenue
generated by the state’s Medical
Marijuana Registry cash fund to
help balance Colorado’s
budget.
The state’s constitution and
Colorado Revised Statutes state
that revenue generated from
fees paid by medical marijuana
patients to obtain a registry card
can be used only to adminis-ter
the program and can’t be
appropriated to any other state
fund. The transfer would require
General Assembly approval.
Denver medical marijuana
Log Lane
Village
attorney Rob Corry also said
he was gearing up to challenge
House Bill 1284.
“There are a lot of horrible
unconstitutional restrictions on
caregivers,” he told the group at
the Medical Marijuana Business
Alliance’s meeting in August.
Corry said he would challenge
the provision in the legislation
that restricted caregivers, or medi-cal
marijuana providers, to five
patients. Caregivers were allowed
to have more than five patients
after a successful challenge to the
restriction in 2007. That challenge
was upheld by the state Board of
Health in July 2009, but House
Bill 1284 reinstated the five-patient
limit.
Rep. Tom Massey, the Poncha
Springs Republican who helped
draft House Bill 1284 and Senate
Bill 109, said in August that
he expected the state’s medical
marijuana legislation to require
tweaks in upcoming legislative
sessions. But he added that other
states were starting to take notice
of what Colorado has done.

I-76
I-70
I-70
I-25
I-25
U.S. 40
U.S. 34
Hayden
Aurora
Kremmling
Granby
Winter Park
U.S. 287
U.S. 50
U.S. 50
Vail
Broomfield
Windsor
Greeley
Paonia
Montrose
Ouray
U.S. 160
U.S. 491
U.S. 160
U.S. 550
U.S. 285
U.S. 24
U.S. 24
U.S. 50
U.S. 50
U.S. 287
U.S. 40
U.S. 36
U.S. 34
U.S. 6
U.S. 385
U.S. 385
U.S. 287
U.S. 160
U.S. 24
U.S. 380
U.S. 160
U.S. 285
U.S. 85
U.S. 84
U.S. 160
Superior
Avon

Fraser
Olathe

Bayfield

Haxtun
Larkspur

Grand
Junction
Firestone
Ban ●
Avon
Bayfield
Castle Rock*
Firestone
Grand Junction*
Grand Lake
Greeley
Haxtun
Hayden
Kremmling
Log Lane Village
Superior
Vail
Winter Park
Ballot measure ●
Aurora
Broomfield
De Beque
Fraser
Granby
Larkspur
Loveland
Montrose
Olathe
Ouray
Paonia
Windsor
House Bill 1284
imposes a state-wide
moratorium
on new medical
marijuana busi-nesses
until July 1,
2011.
*As of Jan. 1, 2011
Source: Sensible Colorado
Nicole miller/staff
Steamboat Springs City Council President Cari Hermacinski says a new city ordinance
to be proposed this fall could allow more than three medical marijuana centers.
City Council member Kenny Reisman, center, a Routt County Advisory Board member
with Grand Futures Prevention Coalition, says it is crucial for the group, which provides
substance abuse prevention, to continue working with schools to provide education
about medical marijuana.
Growing
Pains
www.steamboatpilot.com/growingpains

4 | Growing Pains: Part 3 Friday, October 8, 2010 Steamboat Pilot Today
Michael Lee, owner of Cannabis Therapeutics in Colorado Springs, also owns Genovations Creations, a lab he opened to study cannabinoids By Others will follow
The legislation is part of the
reason Lerner called Colorado the
country’s medical marijuana leader.
As he noted, the world is watching.
Matt Cook, senior director
of enforcement for the Colorado
Department of Revenue, told the
same Medical Marijuana Business
Alliance group that “I’ll even go
so far as to say we’re in the inter-national
spotlight,” citing a recent
media request from the BBC.
He’s also been contacted by
states that have or are consider-ing
medical marijuana legisla-tion.
He said in an August e-mail
that officials in South Dakota,
Vermont, Arizona, New Jersey and
Washington, D.C., have contacted
him to ask about Colorado’s medi-cal
marijuana regulatory system.
At the meeting, Cook high-lighted
the nation’s capital, which
in May approved the use of mari-juana
for medical purposes. The
program there hasn’t started.
“Does anybody really know the
significance of what happens in the
District of Columbia?” Cook asked
the group. “If you’re not (aware),
their laws had to be ratified by the
Congress of the United States, and
they were passed.”
House Bill 1284 gave Cook
the authority to draft rules to fur-ther
regulate Colorado’s medical
marijuana industry. He released 92
pages of draft rules after the first
meeting of a workgroup Aug. 27.
The rules, which the group of
medical marijuana stakeholders
will continue to refine at subse-quent
meetings, will be presented
during a hearing of the state’s
licensing authority in January,
Cook said. During the ensuing six
months, he said his enforcement
officers would work closely with
members of the state’s medical
marijuana industry.
“There’s three components:
education, compliance and enforce-ment,”
Cook said. “That will not
change. We will ensure the industry
understands the expectations for
them.”
Some of those rules could
include a radio frequency identi-fication
system to track medical
marijuana sales. The tracking sys-tem
is intended to prevent the sale
of medical marijuana on the black
market. It’s one of several proposed
regulations that would help the
state keep track of medical mari-juana
from seed to sale.
In addition to extensive security
regulations, medical marijuana cen-ter
owners, infused-product mak-ers
and growers will be subject to
rules that require safe cultivation of
marijuana and related products.
And that’s where people like
Michael Lee come in.
the numbers
Steamboat Springs Police Department arrest statistics
184.5
30 31.5
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
90
15 16.5
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Driving under the influence of alcohol arrests
130.5
1.5
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Driving under the influence of drugs arrests
9
1.5
Projection
Projection
Actual
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Juvenile Key Adult arrests arrests Projections
Clarifications
■ Arrest figures were provided through Aug. 31, so 2010 numbers are projections.
■ One suspect arrest may be counted in multiple categories based on charges.
■ Arrest figures are subject to change as cases are updated or new arrests are made.
Source: Steamboat Springs Police Department
10
0
12 13
1 1
11 6
1
0 Actual
154
4
193 193
7 2
181
87
1
3
Projection
Actual
Marijuana arrests
84
8
72
65
10 11
70
60
11
All drug arrests
176
8
145
136
23 24
143
123
21

Steamboat Pilot Today Growing Pains: Part 3 Friday, October 8, 2010 | 5
Behind the science
Genovations Creations uses a scientific process to isolate
cannabinoids in marijuana to create a cannabinoid profile.
Strains of dried
marijuana are weighed
and put in an oven,
similar to a convection
oven, to dry. Moisture
makes it difficult to
extract cannabinoids.
Source: John Kopta, Genovations Creations
1
The marijuana is ground
into a fine powder,
which makes it easier to
separate the cannabinoids
from the plant material.
2
The ground marijuana
is put into a test tube,
and an organic solvent
is added to dissolve the
cannabinoids.
3
A vortexer is used to mix
the solvent and plant
material inside the test
tube before it’s placed in
a sonicator, where sound
waves pass through it
to break apart the plant
material.
4
The sample is placed in a
high-performance liquid
chromatograph to extract
the cannabinoids to
identify and quantify
which types are in each
marijuana strain tested.
5
The machine sends
information to a
computer, where the
percentage of each
cannabinoid in the
sample can be
determined and the
marijuana can be labeled.
6
cannabinoids in strains of marijuana. Lee says there are only three other labs in the state that do similar research.
A green science
Lee owns Cannabis Therapeutics,
which he says is the state’s
oldest surviving medical mari-juana
center. He said the business
opened in 2004. Lee also owns
Genovations Creations, a lab he
opened in 2006 to study the sci-ence
of marijuana. Lee said he
has invested $800,000 in it.
In the Colorado Springs lab,
Chief Science Officer John Kopta
isolates cannabinoids, the com-pounds
that have medicinal prop-erties,
to create a cannabinoid
profile. Those profiles indicate
how much of each cannabinoid
is present in a particular strain
of medical marijuana or other
product.
“Ultimately, I think it’s all
for the patients, for them to
know what’s in their medications
instead of sticking their nose in
a jar,” Kopta said. “Just because
it looks pretty and smells pretty,
it doesn’t mean what they’re get-ting
will help. We’ll get to a point
where we’ll know a patient’s ail-ment
and be able to recommend
the different strain or liquid or
product that works best.”
Kopta said he knows what dif-ferent
cannabinoids treat based
on European research. Clinical
trials of marijuana aren’t permit-ted
in the U.S. because it’s catego-rized
as a Schedule 1 controlled
substance by the federal govern-ment
and isn’t considered to have
medicinal value.
Eventually, he said Genovations
Creations would be able to
breed plants with certain canna-binoids
to treat specific medical
conditions.
“My research is not going to
stop. … It’s where (the indus-try)
is going to be. It’s where the
future is,” Lee said, but modified
his thought. “It’s now, today. It’s
not tomorrow.”
Lee said there are only three
other labs in the state conduct-ing
research similar to that of
Genovations Creations. One of
those, Full Spectrum Laboratories
in Denver, lists Mary’s in Oak
Creek as a medical marijuana
center it tests for.
Genovations Creations also
offers that service for a fee, but
Kopta said there’s been a mixed
reaction from medical marijuana
center owners. He said it comes
down to whether people want to
help patients or make money.
In addition to creating can-nabinoid
profiles, Lee said the
research can detect whether a
marijuana sample has mold or
other contaminants. He also
uses his lab to create some of the
84 medical products he sells at
Cannabis Therapeutics.

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