Senator Hickenlooper Preparing For Probable Federal Legalization of Cannabis
Rick Langenberg
Unless any sudden surprises occur, the city of Cripple Creek is expected this week to approve the final version of an emergency law, calling for a six-month moratorium on the processing or accepting of any pending applications for marijuana licenses and future cannabis shops.
The council is scheduled on Dec. 7 to okay the second reading of an ordinance, which gives the city a 180-day time out period to develop rules for the forthcoming local marijuana industry.
In one of the big local ballot verdicts of the Nov. election, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure that signaled the green light for allowing retail marijuana, clearing the path for a limited amount of medical and recreational pot outlets. Voters also okayed the proposed marijuana-related taxes associated with this measure.
Only one slight catch: the city has no rules in place or has received any previous proposals for actual marijuana-related possibilities at commercial or downtown sites. This is different from most other Colorado communities that have legalized marijuana sales.
Cripple Creek City Administrator Frank Salvato last week stressed that the moratorium isn’t aimed at slowing down the process. He said the city just wants to establish the groundwork for handling marijuana licenses.
“We will move as fast as we can on this,” said Salvato, in an interview last week.
But that said, he admitted the city needs to…
