[420 Girl]

The torrential flood that Denver officials expected when the city started accepting medical-marijuana dispensary-license applications mostly turned out to be a steady trickle.

By the end of the business day Friday, the last day dispensary owners in the city could apply for a license without having to shut down operations while their application is pending, Denver officials had received 235 applications. That is no small number — it eclipses the number of liquor stores in the city.

But the number is also surprisingly low considering it is less than half the number of dispensaries that have applied for sales-tax licenses with the city.

New rules the City Council passed earlier this year require all dispensaries in Denver to obtain a special operating license in addition to their standard sales-tax license. To get the license, dispensary owners have to provide security plans, lease documents and floor plans, undergo an on-site inspection, submit to a criminal-background check, and pay $5,000 in application and annual fees.

It will take several weeks for dispensaries to receive their licenses, but dispensaries that applied for a license by Friday will be allowed to stay open while they wait.

Dispensaries that didn't apply yet may still do so but will have to close until they have their license in hand.

It is not yet clear what's responsible for Denver's dispensary deflation.

Rob Corry, an attorney specializing in medical-marijuana law, said some dispensary owners likely found the new regulations too costly or onerous.

Andy Cookston, who owns Cannabis Medical Technology, agreed, saying the new regulations probably frightened away owners who weren't wholly committed to the business.

"It really makes people choose between, 'Do I really want to be legal or do I want to go back underground?' " said Cookston, who applied for a license.

But others suggested more innocent explanations.

Jeff Gard, another medical-marijuana attorney, said he spoke with a number of Denver dispensary owners who didn't realize they needed a license. Instead, Gard said, the owners thought the regulations applied only to new dispensaries.

"I don't think there's really been any attrition," Gard said. "I think there's a general lack of understanding of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by."

Steve Horowitz — the owner of the Ganja Gourmet, a dispensary that serves marijuana-infused takeout food — sheepishly admitted to being confused about the new rules. When he realized that he needed to apply for a license, Horowitz said he had to pay a lawyer $3,500 to get the documentation together in a hurry.

Matt Brown, the executive director of the pro-dispensary group Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation, said the number of dispensaries in Denver was probably always overstated. Some businesses that applied for sales-tax licenses and were classified as dispensaries didn't open, he said. Others weren't dispensaries at all, he said, but rather stand-alone marijuana-growing facilities, which don't have to apply for the special dispensary license.

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