Medical Marijuana Regulations Adopted

Lakewood City Council has approved a new City law requiring medical marijuana caregiver facilities to obtain a City license, pass security and safety inspections from the Police Department, undergo a background investigation and operate at least three-quarters of a mile apart from each other.

The new law also provides a 1,000-foot buffer around schools, prohibiting medical marijuana facilities from opening closer than that distance to a school. The facilities will only be allowed in commercially zoned areas of Lakewood.

“What we are doing is establishing a balanced policy here that honors the language of the Colorado Constitution, the needs of legitimate medical marijuana patients and our need to regulate the health, safety and welfare of our community,” said Mayor Bob Murphy.

He noted that some might view the new law as too restrictive while others might think it isn’t tough enough, but he and other City Council members described it as “a fair compromise.”

The City Council approved the new law at its Feb. 8 meeting after months of studying the issue, receiving hundreds of e-mails from residents and potential medical marijuana facility owners and attending neighborhood and other meetings.

At the Feb. 8 meeting, speakers from neighborhood and homeowner groups representing nearly all of Lakewood north of West Sixth Avenue provided public comment along with several potential medical marijuana facility operators and patients.

In 2000, voters across the state approved an amendment to the Colorado Constitution allowing for the sale of medical marijuana for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions. Interest in opening facilities to dispense medical marijuana rose sharply recently across the Denver metro area, and Lakewood moved to adopt its own law to create local regulations. The state Legislature continues to consider statewide laws on the issue, but City Council decided it was important to establish regulations in Lakewood now instead of waiting for new state laws.

Lakewood’s law regulates only medical marijuana businesses, and it has several components such as making it illegal to consume or smoke marijuana at the facilities. The facilities also cannot store or display any marijuana or related products in a way that is visible from a public sidewalk or street, and the businesses must have ventilation systems that eliminate the smell of marijuana from reaching the outside of the building.

The facilities’ hours of operation are also limited to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but they can be open seven days a week. Before opening, applicants of a facility must undergo a thorough criminal background investigation to get a City license, and operators can be denied a license based on what is found in that investigation. The license must be renewed each year.

The Police Department will conduct an evaluation of each facility before it opens to review how the business can improve lighting and take other steps to impede and discourage the facility from becoming a target of criminals. Police will also inspect the businesses before they open and annually to ensure that they meet security requirements such as having surveillance cameras inside and outside the businesses, alarm systems, a locked safe affixed to the building for marijuana storage and other security measures. Employees also must be at least 18 years old.