Denver Council Crafting Regulations For Pot Shops

The Denver Post
Denver City Council members suggested today that they would bar those convicted of recent felonies from getting into the business of dispensing medical marijuana.
The council held no formal vote on a package of proposed regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries from Councilman Charlie Brown and agreed to meet in committee again Dec. 16 to continue hashing out the issue.
A full set of regulations likely will go before the council in January for final consideration.
Brown originally had submitted a proposal that required applicants for a marijuana dispensaries to state whether they had "ever been convicted of a felony, or of violating any federal, state or local law governing the manufacture, distribution, possession or use of controlled substances."

Sensitive that the issue would be debated, Brown noted on his draft proposal that the issue was subject to further discussion on just what should be a disqualifying conviction.

The broad language struck a few council members as too onerous.
Council members settled on felony convictions as the place to draw the line and further decided such a disqualifying conviction would be within five years of completion of a felony sentence.

Councilman Chris Nevitt said he thought using recent felonies as a disqualification was a compromise that would work, but he cautioned against overregulating the industry.
Nevitt said the city doesn't do criminal background checks for those who want to open up donut shops or jewelry stores. Further, he said medical marijuana once was deemed illegal by state officials so it wouldn't be a surprise if some of those getting into the business might have had brushes with the law.