No Vote On Pueblo Marijuana Dispensaries

The Pueblo City Council put off two decisions on medical marijuana Tuesday leaving many who came out for the hearing frustrated.

The council was scheduled to vote on letting Pueblo voters decide on whether to allow dispensaries in the city and on adding an extra tax on medical marijuana. Council president Larry Atencio was absent, so the remaining members decided 5 to 1 to take the vote in two weeks rather than risk a tied vote.

“It’s wasting the voters time,? said Timothy Sargent, a medical marijuana patient who had come to speak. ?They had a quorum, there was no reason for the decision to be put off.”

There were more than a dozen others who had also come for the public hearing. Sargent doesn?t drive, so he and his wife walked to the meeting.

?The bus does not run here in Pueblo after 6 p.m., so we walked two miles,? he said. ?Now we?ll spend the next half an hour walking home. Thank you city council.?

Despite the city?s dispensary ban, Medimar Ministries has continued to sell medical marijuana in Pueblo for the past six months.

?We heard they are working on a cease and desist letter,” said Medimar owner Karen Garnant.

Pueblo Police Chief Jim Billings confirmed that was true.

“We?ve heard rumors they might be dispensing medical marijuana,” he said.

Chief Billings said it?s taken the city this long to issue a cease and desist letter because it wasn?t clear if Medimar was a dispensary or a group of caregivers.

Garnant said she just wants decisions to be made so she can serve her customers.

?The reason I stay in this controversial conversation is because of all the successful stories I?ve heard from patients,? she said. “Those are the stories that keep me going here.”

Garnant and her husband Tom Sexton have a lawyer to assist them with legal proceedings if they decide not to abide by the cease and desist.

Sexton told NEWSCHANNEL 13 the business would have to go back to meeting customers off the Medimar premises to continue to meet the needs of patients.