New medical marijuana licensing on hold in Pitkin County

The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners passed an emergency ordinance Tuesday to put a temporary moratorium on issuing any new medical marijuana licenses until the county officially adopts regulations and procedures concerning the licensing of retail marijuana facilities.

The board is still in the process of reviewing retail marijuana licensing rules and regulations and hopes to have them adopted early in 2014, but no firm timeline exists.

Once the retail licensing procedures are in place, the board is expected to review and revise its regulations pertaining to medical marijuana.

According to the emergency ordinance, the intention of the board is to integrate the licensing regulations of medical and retail marijuana facilities as much as legally permissible and practical.

Pitkin County Attorney John Ely emphasized that the emergency ordinance will only affect new medical marijuana applications. Currently, the county has four medical license applications on record and one pending.

The four medical applications on record with the county belong to Jordan Lewis and Cooper Mason Ventures LLC; Garrett Patrick of KIND Wellness Center at the Aspen Business Center; Jim Weber of United Patients of America and Aspen/RF Wellness near Holland Hills; and the Ron Radtke group, owner of Green Essentials in Glenwood Springs, who plans to open Aspen Green Dragon.

The Lewis licenses are for growing and infused manufacturing; Patrick has applications in for growing and a dispensary, as does Weber. The Radtke growing-license application is pending until they have an actual location that the county can inspect.

“The intent here is to bring medical marijuana procedures in line with retail procedures,” Ely said. “This ordinance does not apply to any existing medical marijuana licensing.”

When asked if the emergency ordinance would affect the one pending medical marijuana license, Ely said it would. That brought a response from commissioners Michael Owsley and Steve Child.

Both commissioners supported the moratorium, but were reluctant to proceed without notifying the Radtke group about the emergency ordinance. Wording was then added to the ordinance clarifying that any pending licensing would not be affected by the moratorium.

The commissioners voted 4-1 to accept the emergency ordinance, with commissioner Rachel Richards the lone opposing vote.

There will be a public hearing concerning the emergency ordinance on Jan. 22 at the board regular meeting.

mmclaughlin@aspentimes.com