Colorado begins accepting retail marijuana store applications

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Denver’s Medicine Man medical marijuana dispensary submitted the very first application to become a recreational cannabis store today, the first day that Colorado could begin accepting applications.
“We’re excited,” Williams told the Denver Post. “Some folks are afraid to be first, but we welcome it.”


Colorado’s Amendment 64, which legalized small amounts of cannabis for personal use and cultivation as well as legalized for-profit retail cannabis stores – required that municipalities have all their laws and regulations written so the state could begin accepting applications by Oct. 1.
Currently, only existing medical marijuana dispensaries that want to make the transition to recreational stores are allowed to apply. Anyone wanting to start from scratch has to wait nine months until a citywide moratorium on new applications runs out.
The dispensaries will now go through the licensing process that could take as long as three months. The process will also require local municipalities to sign off on the stores. Retail marijuana stores will likely begin opening in January.
According to the Post, there were 50 appointments scheduled by Tuesday morning. Officials say they’ll get through those initial interviews by Thursday.
Already four of the ten largest cities in Colorado have banned recreational cannabis sales outright (Colorado Springs, Thornton, Westminster and Centennial) and five have placed moratoriums on shops until next year. That leaves Denver as the lone big city in Colorado still allowing recreational cannabis sales.
Towns that will allow for recreational cannabis sales include: Aspen, Basalt, Black Hawk, Breckenridge, Carbondale, Durango, Eagle, Frisco, Glendale, Glenwood Springs, Leadville, Manitou Springs, Telluride, Silverthorne, Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte, Silverton, Red Cliff, Leadville, Salida, Georgetown, Northglenn, Nederland, Silverton, Idaho Springs and Pueblo.

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