DENVER -- Less than 24-hours after Denver began notifying dispensaries that they have to collect sales tax on medical marijuana, the city council's safety committee began debating a proposed set of new regulations on the budding industry.

"We want to help people who legitimately need medical marijuana but we want to prevent abuse,” said Councilman Charlie Brown.

Brown unveiled a rough draft of requirements and restrictions Wednesday that he hopes will do just that.

Among the proposed requirements:

Dispensaries provide marijuana to qualified patients only

Patients can’t distribute what they grow to others

Criminal background checks for all owners

Submission of an operations plan detailing ownership, layout and security

Prohibition against on site consumption

Security cameras inside and out, accessible to police

500 feet buffer between dispensary and schools/daycare centers

1,000 feet buffer between dispensaries

Proof on demand where the marijuana came from

Food license for those dispensing edibles

“We’re going to crack down on how the edibles are prepared,” Brown said. “The edibles cannot be prepared in someone’s home and brought in.”

Reaction to the proposals are mixed.

“We are absolutely for rules and regulations,” said Josh Stanley, owner of Peace in Medicine, one of the largest dispensaries in the state.

Peace in Medicine already has cameras on the premises.

Patient Bob O’Hara told 7NEWS that the cameras don’t bother him.

But they do bother others.

“This is not a George Orwellian society,” said attorney Robert Corry. “We can’t have the police having full access to those cameras. The patients have a right to privacy.”

Members of the safety committee also heard from state Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, who plans to sponsor a bill regulating medical marijuana at the state level.

Romer said the California model has created a patchwork of issues where some communities have moratoriums on dispensaries and some are inundated with them.

“We need to focus on a clinical model that keeps the patient at the forefront with affordable medical marijuana and we need to keep it out of the hands of teenagers and recreational users,” Romer said.

Romer told committee members that suburban parents shouldn’t have to drive down Broadway and see all the neon marijuana leaf signs in some of the dispensary windows.

“Look, we’ve been smart enough to say it’s not appropriate for tobacco companies to target teenagers, therefore it’s not even close to appropriate to have medical marijuana people targeting teenagers.”

Brown said that’s the goal of his proposed regulations.

He said dispensaries should be limited to the amount of marijuana allowed by Amendment 20.

“We want to help people with cancer and those with debilitating pain, but we don’t want them (dispensaries) selling a pound out the back door," Brown said.

Corry said it’s up to doctors to decide who qualifies for medical marijuana.

He added that some dispensary owners might be willing to compromise on their neon signs if the city is willing work with them on the camera issue.

The safety committee will revisit the issue on Dec. 2.

Brown said there should be a formal written proposal by then.