‘This can be done right’: how Colorado sparked a decade of marijuana reform

[orthene]

Ten years ago voters in Colorado approved a ballot measure called Amendment 64 that legalized cannabis for adult, recreational use. This not only created a booming avenue of tourism for Denver – which became the Las Vegas of legal weed – but sparked a domino effect of similar reforms across the US, eventually leading 19 states (and DC) to legalize recreational marijuana, and increase the number of medically legal states to 37.

Since then, Colorado has racked up $13.2bn in cannabis sales, which has gleaned $2.2bn in taxes and fees for the state.

Recently Joe Biden announced he would be pardoning all federal marijuana offenses, encouraged governors to do the same, and asked for a review of its schedule 1 status, where it is placed alongside heroin and LSD as having “no medicinal value”.

It has been a decade of remarkable change. Instead of birthing a huge new American industry, back in 2012, many conservative pundits and politicians predicted legal weed would plunge Denver into a post-apocalyptic chaos.

Former Colorado governor and current US senator John Hickenlooper – who, like nearly every other Colorado politician, strongly opposed legalization – confessed that time had proved his anxieties to be unfounded.

“Today, I go into the US Senate on a regular basis and say that we can prove that since we legalized marijuana there has been no increase in teenage experimentation, no increase in driving while high,” Hickenlooper said at a recent event marking the anniversary and citing a state health survey of 40,000 participants. “Just to be clear, I smoked pot when I was 16 … and I feel pretty darn sure now that [legalization] is a much better societal decision than what I grew up in.”

As Denver mayor in the 2000s, Hickenlooper aggressively opposed civic marijuana reforms and was labeled a hypocrite for making his fortune as a brewpub owner. His replacement in 2011, Mayor Michael Hancock, was arguably even more anti-cannabis, labeling it a “gateway drug”, and predicted: “We will lose our attractiveness to companies, employers who want to come to our state.”

However, he began his opening remarks at last Tuesday’s celebration with the joke “it’s great to be here at the losers rally for Amendment 64.”

After explaining his opposition to the measure at the time – citing addiction issues in his own family – he said “I was wrong 10 years ago. I’m a convert today. This can be done right and responsibly.”

Hancock also boasted that “today I am the chair of a national mayors committee for sensible cannabis policy. I have testified in Congress that it’s time to legalize marijuana.”

Similarly Hickenlooper called for federal marijuana reforms, and announced the creation of a marijuana taskforce in the Senate to mirror the one created in Colorado with Amendment 64, in preparation for federal legalization.

“We knew it was a matter of when, not if,” the current Colorado governor, Jared Polis, said. “It’s always exciting as an elected official to be riding the wave of history.”

Full article link   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/15/colorado-marijuana-reform-recreational-cannabis-sales-taxes

[jones]

Great time to put the pressure on these marijuana deniers. I have pain pills that I can take& legally own a gun-- why should my second amendment right to own agun or even ammo disappear just because I might enjoy getting high on weed?