The Archuleta County Marijuana Update Citizens Advisory Committee held a meeting on Sept. 19 at which the committee began briefly discussing the possibility of amending the county’s marijuana ordinance to allow for licensed marijuana growers to sell more of their product outside of Archuleta County.
The county first passed Ordinance 13-2015 in July 2015 outlining regulations and licensing requirements for marijuana establishments in Archuleta County.
During the Sept. 19 meeting, the committee began discussing Section 6 of the ordinance, which specifies a requirement that “no less than seventy percent (70%) of the product grown under the optional premises cultivation operation license is made available for sale to the public through a facility licensed in Archuleta County.”
County Attorney Todd Weaver explained in a later interview that the Marijuana Update Citizens Advisory Committee was formed earlier this spring by the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) at his request.
Weaver mentioned that there were “a number of individuals” who have been talking about updating the ordinance for some time now.
He explained that there are five set members on the committee: Archuleta County Undersheriff Robert Hill; local businesses owners Jeremy Bonin, Hannah Burnett and Robert Mellon; and Pagosa Springs Town Clerk/Finance Director April Hessman.
Weaver added that the committee was formed to allow for those in the industry, and others, to have input on the ordinance revisions.
“There’s a lot of new licenses that are out there,” Weaver said, explaining that the BoCC will need to decide what changes they would like to see, if any, and then the committee will draft a revised ordinance to be presented to the BoCC for approval.
Weaver commented that the discussion in regard to the 70 percent rule is “rather important” and is “a way to protect our locally owned businesses.”
Weaver added that large companies could come into the area and undercut those currently here, potentially putting them out of business.
“I don’t think that’s what we want,” he said.
Weaver also mentioned the town and county have existing relationships with the local owners that are currently operating in the community.
“That would change if it were some big company out of Denver or Pueblo who doesn’t really care about Pagosa and Archuleta County,” he said.
During the Sept. 19 meeting, Bonin explained that businesses operating in the county currently are set up with the infrastructure needed to ensure that licensed growers in the county are selling at least 70 percent of their flower in Archuleta County.
Burnett mentioned the intention of the 70 percent rule was to keep the industry local.
“We should be able to sell more out of the county if we want to,” Bonin said.
Hill disagreed with Bonin’s statement, explaining that Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux does not want marijuana grows getting out of control, to the point where the county is no longer benefiting from it.
“We don’t want to have a whole bunch of grow domes popping up so that the product’s getting sold elsewhere. We don’t want that. We don’t want Archuleta to be a grow area and only a portion is being sold here,” Hill said.
Hill mentioned that he does not want to see large companies from Denver or Colorado Springs setting up shop in Archuleta County, growing large amounts of marijuana and shipping off to sell in other parts of the state.
“We don’t want to be the marijuana capital,” Hill added.
“That really constricts businesses that are here, and they’re fighting for their life,” Bonin replied.
Bonin explained that he was involved in the creation of the original ordinance and the “spirit” behind the 70 percent rule to prevent larger companies from growing product in other parts of the state and shipping it to Archuleta County to sell.
Bonin explained that this helped keep jobs in the local economy.
Hill mentioned the abandoned hemp farms off of U.S. 160 and that the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) does not want to have more of those popping up.
“We don’t want to see six, eight, 10 of those popping up,” Hill said.
He added that Le Roux “wants responsible marijuana growth.”
Weaver suggested the committee dedicate an entire meeting to this one topic to see what kind of structure makes the most sense for each interested party.
Weaver added that lots of things included in the original ordinance made sense when it was initially adopted, but that with the state updating its policies, some of the contents of the ordinance are no longer relevant.
He mentioned that the state used to have a requirement that any store tied to a cultivation location was required to have a certain amount of its product sold in their own store.
“That has gone away now,” he said.
“I also agree that perhaps there’s an opportunity where marijuana that’s grown here could be sold elsewhere,” Weaver added.
Hill mentioned the ACSO is not “completely opposed” to allowing for more marijuana to be sold outside of the county.
“I just know the troubles that Archuleta had a few years ago,” Hill said, explaining he is relatively new to the community.
Bonin chimed in, explaining the town and county limiting the number of marijuana business licenses available will help prevent situations that Hill expressed concern about.
Hill commented that the ACSO does not want to hurt the local business owners who have been operating in the county, but that he “just doesn’t want Budweiser moving in.”
“We don’t either,” Bonin replied.
He explained that companies have shown interest in either growing or selling in Archuleta County.
“They are totally looking at our community,” he said.
Bonin spoke more about the local businesses being set up with infrastructure that was needed to meet the demands of the past, but now businesses are producing extra “because our sales have gone down so much in this county.”
Hill noted that 38 states in the country now have medical and/or recreational marijuana.
The nation’s capital, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories also have medical and/or recreational marijuana.
Bonin noted that sales from tourism are down over the past few years with neighboring states like New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona legalizing marijuana.
Weaver mentioned again that the committee should look to have a meeting dedicated to discussing how the ordinance can be structured to “keep our marijuana industry local” while potentially allowing for more marijuana to be sold outside of the county and still taking measures to prevent large companies from coming in and taking control of the local market.
Bonin noted that the larger companies are mostly looking to set up storefronts and are not looking as much to establish more growing facilities.
Hill commented that there could be issues with larger companies offering local business owners undeniable amounts of money to purchase their businesses.
Bonin indicated that Routt County is the only other county in the state that still has a 70 percent rule, adding that Steamboat Springs and Pagosa Springs have the highest prices in the state for retail marijuana.
During the meeting, Hill also mentioned that the committee should start to think about how the county is going to address the legalization of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
He noted that beginning in January 2025, the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms in a retail environment will be legal in Colorado.
clayton@pagosasun.com
