Pueblo cannabis industry urges pause on code fee increases; county staff to rework hearing-language and solicit feedback

Members of Pueblo County’s marijuana industry told commissioners on Jan. 2 that proposed changes to the county’s marijuana licensing code—especially fee increases affecting medical cultivators—would threaten local businesses and prompted calls for a pause and broader stakeholder engagement.

Sarah Long, the county staff member leading the code revisions, said the draft language under discussion on Jan. 2 repeated the proposals previously shown to the commission and that staff had met with industry representatives to hear concerns. Long said most feedback was neutral or clarifying but that comments about fees—particularly for medical cultivation—warranted further conversation.

Several industry speakers told the board the market is sharply down and that county fee increases would add pressure. Richard Quessel, identified as representing Heartland Cannabis Products, described dramatic declines in revenue and difficulties collecting accounts receivable: “We’re currently lucky to get about 40% of the sales that we did last year,” he said, and later reported that Heartland’s sales were roughly $4,700,000 last year with net earnings of about $114,000. Quessel described multiple rounds of layoffs and…