Last night, the Littleton City Council voted 4-3 for an ordinance that would prohibit retail marijuana businesses there.
During a first reading, Mayor Phil Cernanec, who opposed the ban, explained that in order to enact the retail pot prohibition, the council needed to proactively present a new mandate and vote on it or decide on extending the moratorium the city placed on recreational pot businesses, which ends in October.
There was no input from the public at last night's meeting. A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for July 1.
Council members Bruce Beckman, Debbie Brinkman, Bruce Stableman and Ronald Stein supported the ban, with Peggy Cole, Jerry Valdes and Cernanec dissenting.The ordinance bans retail marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana product manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities and marijuana stores in Littleton.
Here's how each of these entities is described:
RETAIL MARIJUANA ESTABLISHMENT: A retail marijuana store, a retail marijuana cultivation facility, a retail marijuana product manufacturing facility, or a retail marijuana testing facility.Littleton has four medical marijuana dispensaries that will remain open. The ban only covers recreational shops.RETAIL MARIJUANA STORE: An entity licensed to purchase marijuana from marijuana cultivation facilities and marijuana and marijuana products from marijuana product manufacturing facilities and to sell marijuana and marijuana products to consumers.
RETAIL MARIJUANA CULTIVATION FACILITY: An entity licensed to cultivate, prepare, and package marijuana and sell marijuana to retail marijuana stores, to marijuana product manufacturing facilities, and to other marijuana cultivation facilities, but not to consumers.
RETAIL MARIJUANA PRODUCT MANUFACTURING FACILITY: An entity licensed to purchase marijuana; manufacture, prepare, and package marijuana products; and sell marijuana and marijuana products to other marijuana product manufacturing facilities and to retail marijuana stores, but not to consumers.
RETAIL MARIJUANA TESTING FACILITY: An entity licensed to analyze and certify the safety and potency of marijuana.
More from our Marijuana archive: "Marijuana: Commercial pot shops prohibited in Douglas County as others consider bans"