COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- State lawmakers passed a law regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, but it may be just the beginning of a long court battle.
State lawmakers gave final approval to the new regulations Tuesday. Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to sign the bill into law.
But many say the law goes way too far and could be struck in the courts.
Local dispensary owners are scrambling Wednesday night trying to figure out what the new law means for them, and how to get into compliance before the law goes into effect in six weeks.
Tanya Garduno is with the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council. She says she spent all day Wednesday in meetings with local dispensary owners.
"We are really kind of torn. We know that there is some regulation that really needs to be there. This isn’t what we needed though," Garduno said.
She says local owners want to know what they have to do to be in compliance by July 1.
"The fact that the state has put such a tight time frame on things really puts a lot of people into a bind. You have to have all of your forms filled out but these forms don’t even exist yet," Garduno said.
Councilman Sean Paige worked on local ordinances for pot shops for months before the state law was passed.
"What the state has done has prolonged the process, prolonged the uncertainty, but we as a city can do something to try and bring some order to the situation and get some basic rules of the road in place," Paige said.
Paige has long been an advocate for smaller government and isn’t wild about that new law that creates more bureaucracy.
"Anytime government gets more involved in something you are going to have more problems," Paige said.
And at a time when the city needs every penny of sales tax revenue it can get, Paige is says it doesn’t make sense to put small pot shops out of business with huge licensing fees.
"These are legal legitimate businesses that have been paying taxes in the city, If we want to turn our back on one of the few industries in the city that been paying taxes rents spaces and doing business here, I think that’s foolish," Paige said.
"Doing away with those mom-and-pop shops is just going to raise the price and of course the patients will pay in the end," Garduno said.
There is already talk of court challenges. Some are saying the local bans are unconstitutional.