Adams County Breaks Out The Bingo Basket To Pick Pot Shop Owners
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Adams County officials on Tuesday used a bingo spinner to decide which of 1,600 applicants will get to open recreational marijuana businesses.
For marijuana entrepreneurs, Adams County was reading the numbers to new potential millionaires. With only a few winners allowed to grow and sell legal pot for at least a year, the appetite is ripe where marijuana couldn't be sold.
"On some level the county commissioners wanted to make sure that all of the quirks were worked out and that there was wide range of approval among people in the county," said Jim Siedlecki, Adams County Director of Public Information.
Adams County let a year-long moratorium on recreational sales end in December, clearing the way for sales by July. More than 1,600 people applied for the right to operate three marijuana shops, grow houses and kitchens. But while the county was cautious to watch the industry develop, some applicants say the floodgates were opened for anyone to put their name in the basket.
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"You don't even know if some of these people are unqualified -- felons, records, other things that will disqualify them," an applicant said.
That could delay open sales more than a year if Adams County has to go down the list.
With marijuana sales adding millions to state and local coffers, applicants call the slow rollout in Adams County overkill.
"That would be nice if you could just apply for a license and be able to get with a city or county to open up a store; that would be ideal," another applicant said.
County Commissioners see this year as a test. If marijuana sales go well in 2015, Adams County could expand to a free and open market for pot next year.
