Medical marijuana isn't just for big cities anymore

A photo of Shaun Hadley and a friend, from Hadley's MySpace page.

​The lack of state regulation and oversight of medical marijuana dispensaries, which spurred a raucous Colorado Department of Health hearing last month, has Durango Police Chief David Felice worried. He tells the Durango Herald News that he and his colleagues across Colorado are e-mailing each other frequently with ideas about how to handle what they anticipate to be a sudden explosion of clinics in their jurisdictions. He thinks zoning regulations designed to keep dispensaries away from schools and residential areas may be the way to go. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported Monday that the communities of Breckenridge, Frisco and Silverthorne have put ninety-day moratoriums on new applications for such facilities while officials try to figure out what the hell to do -- and the Steamboat Springs city council followed suit last night.

Meanwhile, plans for dispensaries are puffing ahead in other Colorado burgs, including Aspen, where the Aspen Times reports that a guy named Charlie (no last name, please) plans to open a joint called Aspen L.E.A.F. -- the acronym stands for "Locals Emporium of Alternative Farms" -- sometime next week. And today's Craig Daily Press profiles Shaun Hadley, who wants to turn being laid off from his job as an electrician into an opportunity -- to open a marijuana dispensary of his own. Talk about stimulating the economy.