Medical marijuana licensing more liberal in Denver than in Boulder?

Boulder may have a reputation for being the most liberal spot in Colorado. But it turns out that Denver takes a much more liberal approach to licensing medical marijuana businesses, the state’s biggest — only? — growth industry over the last few years.

By June 30, 2010, when the city stopped taking dispensary applications because of a state-imposed moratorium that started July 1 that year, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses had received 347 dispensary applications. As of August 1, 2011, there were 217 licensed dispensaries in Denver (licenses run two years), with seventy pending approval; 39 had been denied and another 21 withdrawn or forfeited, according to Tom Downey, the new director of Excise and Licenses.

Those stats indicate that Denver’s been a lot more liberal with its licensing than Boulder. A year after requiring that all medical marijuana operations be licensed, Boulder has rejected 41 of 119 applications, more than a third of them, the Daily Camera reported, with just 38 businesses actually getting their licenses so far.

More from our Calhoun: Wake-Up Call archive: ““More dispensaries than Starbucks stores in Denver? So what?”