Longmont has been awarded more than half a million dollars by the state government through a grant specifically for cities that don’t allow retail marijuana sales.

The Longmont City Council in April gave Children, Youth and Families division manager Christina Pacheco Sims the go-ahead to apply for the Local Government Marijuana Impact grant program, offered through the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

Longmont requested $567,540 for prevention, intervention and suppression of teen marijuana use, largely through the remodel of the old fire station at 1200 Lashley St.

Longmont received the entire $567,540 the city requested — more than any of the other 15 applications from various city and county governments. In all, DOLA received $1.96 million in grant requests and funded $985,760. More than half of the funds will go to Longmont while some other cities and towns that applied did not get awarded.

When asked why Longmont received half of the grant award available, DOLA spokeswoman Denise Stepto said in an email that Longmont’s application was very competitive.

Read the rest of this story at the Longmont Times-Call.