[420 Girl]

Co - Windsor residents spoke, and spoke decisively, about medical marijuana dispensaries on Tuesday in response to a ballot question about denying future dispensaries.

Nearly 80 percent of the voters said they would be in favor of the town prohibiting any additional dispensaries.

The non-binding question was placed on the April 6 municipal ballot by the Windsor Town Board to get a clearer picture of how citizens felt about the dispensaries.

"The voters were pretty clear," Windsor Mayor John Vazquez said on Wednesday.

The ballot question was mailed to all registered voters of the town. Surprisingly, a record 4,419 ballots were returned, according to Windsor Town Clerk Patti Garcia.

Vazquez said with the record response he feels comfortable moving forward with an ordinance capping the number of dispensaries in town at two.

"I never felt good about the seven members of town board making that decision," he said. "Now we know, and if someone mounts a legal challenge to our cap, I feel good that we can spend taxpayer dollars to defend the decision with resident support."

The town first began discussing medical marijuana dispensaries at a Dec. 7 work session when just two dispensaries were open for business.

At that meeting, the board discussed a moratorium on the businesses as six or more were preparing to open in coming weeks.

The town board passed a 75-day moratorium on Dec. 16, allowing two businesses to remain open during the moratorium In Harmony Wellness, 4630 Royal Vista Circle, and A New Dawn Wellness Clinic, 520½ Main St.

The purpose of the moratorium was to give the town board time to formulate policy for handling the businesses in the future.

The moratorium was extended into June earlier this year.

A third dispensary, MediGrow at 1295 Main St., Unit A, has been operating in defiance of the moratorium. The town currently is engaged in litigation to try to close the business.

"Before we take any steps, I want to get the new board members on and caught up," Vazquez said.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...more-mmds.html