Pot shops are sprouting in towns around the Pikes Peak region, but don’t expect them to flourish as they have in the “miracle grow” climate of Colorado Springs.

Small town governments are taking a strict approach to regulating the medical marijuana dispensaries, or “centers” as the state calls them in a bill passed last week by the General Assembly.

If it is signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter, as expected, the bill would ban centers from being within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers, drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities. It would limit the hours of operations, mandate security systems in the centers and require criminal background checks of owners.

The General Assembly was forced to act after the federal government announced last year it would no longer enforce pot laws in states that allow medical marijuana. Of course, Colorado voters in 2000 adopted Amendment 20, legalizing medical marijuana. However, it didn’t set up a system to distribute it to patients. A pot shop free-for-all erupted.

Unlike Colorado Springs, which is wide open with no ordinance governing dispensaries, moratoriums were enacted in smaller towns including Calhan, Fountain, Canon City and Woodland Park.

Others gradually are dropping their bans and passing new ordinances to regulate pot shops, including Palmer Lake, Monument and Victor. But most are more strict than the proposed state law.

Take Monument, where the town board unanimously approved an ordinance last November. It mirrors the proposed state law, plus it bans dispensaries from within 1,000 feet of a neighborhood, church, community center, library, fairground, hotel, trail and park. It even bans pot shops from clustering within 1,000 feet of one another.

“Our restrictions are pretty restrictive,” Town Clerk Scott Meszaros said.

So restrictive, in fact, that Meszaros said only a few buildings in Monument qualify. The few that do are so expensive  “that it’s not viable with our restrictions,” he said.

“We’ve had about 20 tentative applicants, but no official submissions.”

Palmer Lake passed a stringent ordinance April 8. The town hopes to limit the number of dispensaries to three. It began accepting applications this month.

In Teller County, Kathryn Chandler plans to open the town of Victor’s first dispensary, Phantom Canyon Apothecary, in the same building as her antique shop, Splendid Treasures, after the town’s moratorium is lifted on July 2. Victor’s new ordinance makes a dispensary an expensive business to launch.

She paid a $2,000 application fee and will have to pay another $2,000 annual permit fee.

The proposed new state law would increase her expenses because it requires that dispensaries grow 70 percent of what they sell. She plans to use the space above her shop to grow pot, displacing three rent-paying tenants.

Chandler feels she had no choice. The slow economy forced her to diversify beyond her antique shop.

“People don’t need antiques,” she said. “I need something that somebody has to have.”

In Woodland Park, officials are crafting an ordinance as its moratorium is set to expire June 18. The current draft ordinance would leave only isolated commercial and industrial areas of town. In addition, it would ban dispensaries along the main downtown corridor along U.S. Highway 24.

Calhan is taking a slow approach. It extended a moratorium already in place that was to expire in June, said Town Clerk Cindy Tompkins.

The Fountain City Council enacted a moratorium last November. Since then, proposed ordinances have been twice voted down by the board, Mayor Jeri Howells said.

The seven-member board can’t agree on how big a buffer is needed from schools and parks — 500 feet or 1,000 feet. The Fountain moratorium was extended until June 7.

“We are back to Square 1 as far as an ordinance,” Howells said. “We will use the state bill as a guideline. We will have our own city ordinance. We don’t want to set the standard so high that we’re accused of being exclusionary.”

In Fremont County, apple sellers outnumber hemp sellers.

The sole dispensary in Canon City set up shop before the moratorium. Another, Earth Medicines, opened its doors a stone’s throw from the Canon City line in a U.S. Highway 50 strip mall space formerly a tattoo parlor.

Earth Medicines co-owner Mary Dooley hopes to open a second location in Florissant.

“We’re enjoying it. It’s a nice business,” said Dooley, who used to work in the corporate world. “A lot of them coming through the door are just looking for help.”

Mary Dooley, co-owner of Earth Medicines in Fremont County, holds some of the cannabis fertilizer the shop sells for those who grow their own. Photo by

Trainwreck, Silver Haze and Papa’s Candy are among the items on the menu at Earth Medicines Photo by

Plant food Photo by