This election season Rocky Ford voters passed a measure to authorize the licensing of retail marijuana establishments, but only for current medical licensees and those with medical license applications on file.
Marijuana sales aren’t new to Rocky Ford, one of the oldest towns along Highway 50 in southeast Colorado. The town’s dispensary, Rocky Farms, opened in December 2016, as the sole cannabis provider in Otero County, it was and is closer to many customers in Oklahoma, Texas and southern Kansas than any of the establishments in central cities like Pueblo, Trinidad and Colorado Springs. Unfortunately for the owner of Rocky Farms, that hasn’t been a boon for business. Limited by law to selling medical product, Rocky Farms is off-limits to out-of-state visitors.
That will change now that Rocky Ford’s Ballot Question 2F has passed. Only authorizing the current medical licensees means only two people, both out of Colorado Springs, are eligible for the new license. The first is Rocky Farms owner Jack Sveinsson, and the second is Jack Pease, who was confident enough in passage to have remodeled a building for his dispensary in advance.
Rocky Ford commissioned Professor Jack Strauss of the University of Denver to analyze market prospects for marijuana. In his report, he concluded that the city “can generate more than $343,000 in additional tax revenue in 2018 if recreational marijuana sales are permitted.”
Rocky Ford voters also passed Rocky Ford Ballot Question 2E, which places an extra 6 percent city tax on retail marijuana (on top of state taxes and standard sales tax). The question allows the town’s city council to adjust the tax up to 8 percent without another vote.
Nearby Ordway may join the experiment — its city council votes on dispensaries at the end of the month.
credit:thechronicle-news.com
