Dispensaries Cropping Up

The Denver Post

There's a young woman with a French-tip pedicure and a toddler on her hip. Next comes a 20-something data analyst in pain from an infection. And a 60-year-old guy limping around in what appears to be a medieval torture device screwed into his leg in an effort to re-fuse shattered bones.

They all came to the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation's Wheat Ridge clinic one morning last week seeking the same thing: medical marijuana.

Odds are they'll get it. First off, they've been highly screened. Secondly, a whole lot of people in Colorado are getting medical marijuana these days: In the past year, the number of people on the state's medical-marijuana registry has nearly tripled.

And in a development that has health officials on edge, a growing number of those on the registry are men under the age of 30, diagnosed with severe pain. At the end of last year, that category accounted for 18 percent of those on the registry. Now, they make up 24 percent.

The explosion of consumer demand for medical marijuana has spawned concern among some but represents opportunity for others to move medical marijuana into the mainstream.

"It's a growing area, a growing field," said Brian Vicente, director of Sensible Colorado, a pro-marijuana advocacy group.

By summer's end, there could be as many as 60 medical-marijuana "dispensaries" in Colorado, according to the founder of Colorado Medical Marijuana, which catalogues the dispensaries on its website.

The founder, Todd, asked that only his first name be used because he straddles two worlds — the marijuana business and the real estate business.