Study: Marijuana Use Stable In Colorado Post-Legalization

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Paul Armentano | March 2, 2017

DENVER, CO — The percentage of Coloradoans who report using cannabis has remained relatively unchanged following the regulation of the adult use market, according to data published online ahead of print in the journal Preventive Medicine.

Researchers at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reviewed statewide marijuana use data from January 1, 2014.

They reported:

“[M]arijuana use, both among adults and among youth, does not appear to be…

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Marijuana Use Rates Have Not Changed in Colorado Post-Legalization

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Thousands of signatures for the Colorado Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which later become known as Amendment 64, outside of the state capitol in February, 2012.

Paul Armentano | February 9, 2017

DENVER, CO — The percentage of Colorado adults and teens who report using cannabis regularly has remained virtually unchanged in the years following its legalization, according to a new report released by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.

The report, entitled…

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So Far, So Good: What We Know About Marijuana Legalization in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington D.C.

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3D Cannabis retail marijuana packaging

Drug Policy Alliance | October 13, 2016

As Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada prepare to vote on marijuana legalization next month, all eyes are on the initial outcomes of those states that have already legalized marijuana. In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two U.S. states – and the first two jurisdictions in the world – to approve ending marijuana prohibition and legally regulating marijuana production, distribution and sales. In the 2014 election, Alaska and Oregon followed…

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Report: Marijuana Legalization Has Had “Minimal” Adverse Impact On Health

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Report: Marijuana Legalization Has Had “Minimal” Adverse Impact On Health

WASHINGTON, DC — The enactment of laws regulating the adult use, production, and retail sale of cannabis in four states has had negligible, if any, adverse impact on overall health and safety, according to an analysis commissioned by the CATO Institute – a Washington, DC think-tank.

Researchers from Harvard University and Western Carolina University assessed the impact of marijuana legalization laws in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington on a variety of health and safety outcomes, including drug use, suicide rates, substance abuse…

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Colorado Will Use Marijuana Taxes to Fund Bully Prevention Grants

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Colorado Will Use Marijuana Taxes to Fund Bully Prevention Grants

Opponents to marijuana legalization often tout the archaic question, “what about the children?”, despite numerous studies that have shown that marijuana reform generally reduces teen use.

Well, Colorado has the answer.  Ever since the state began taxing retail cannabis sales, schools in the state have benefited, with $40 million already being used to fund new school construction.

Now, state officials are taking it one step further: Using parts of the estimated $66 million in surplus — yes, that’s right, surplus — marijuana tax…

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Poll Finds Most Coloradans Upbeat About Legal Marijuana, Few Would Support Repeal

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Poll Finds Most Coloradans Upbeat About Legal Marijuana, Few Would Support Repeal

Three out of five Colorado voters say regulating and taxing marijuana has been good for the economy, and one out of four say they have a friend, relative, or acquaintance who works for or with a regulated marijuana business

DENVER, CO — A new poll finds Colorado voters are still upbeat about their decision to regulate and tax marijuana for adult use, and few would support repealing Amendment 64, the legalization initiative approved in November 2012.

The results of the statewide survey, which was conducted earlier this month by Public Policy…

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Colorado: Legal Marijuana Sales Total Nearly $1 Billion in 2015

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DENVER, CO — Colorado’s licensed sales of marijuana totaled nearly one billion dollars in 2015, according to economic data provided by the state Department of Revenue.

Licensed retail stores sold $996,184,788 worth of cannabis in the past year, resulting in $135 million in new tax revenue.

As mandated by state law, $35 million in tax revenue was earmarked for public school construction projects.

Total sales in 2015 far exceeded those of 2014, during which time retailers sold just under $700 million in cannabis-related products.

Legal…

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Colorado’s Marijuana Revenue Exceeded Projections in 2015

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Colorado’s Regulated Marijuana System Generated More Than $135 Million in Revenue for the State in 2015, Including More Than $35 Million for School Construction Projects

DENVER, CO — Colorado’s regulated marijuana system generated more than $135 million in revenue for the state in 2015, including more than $35 million for school construction projects, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

There were just under $588 million in adult-use marijuana sales in Colorado from January-December 2015, producing approximately $109.1…

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Colorado Releases Proposed Edible Labeling Requirements

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DENVER, CO — Edible marijuana products in Colorado may soon come labeled with a red stop sign, according to a draft of new rules released Wednesday by state marijuana regulators.

The state may also ban the word “candy” from edible pot products, even if they’re sweets such as suckers or gummy chews.

The new pot symbol – an octagon stop-sign shape with the letters “THC” to indicate marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient – would have to be on individual edible items, not just labels. Liquid marijuana products would be limited to…

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Denver Campaign for Social Marijuana Use Submits 10k Signatures

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DENVER, CO — Supporters for a campaign to allow some social consumption of marijuana in Denver have submitted more than double the number of signatures needed to place the measure before voters this November.

The Denver Campaign for Limited Social Use submitted more than 10,000 signatures Monday in support of their proposed city-wide initiative that would allow limited social use — but not sale — of marijuana at commercial establishments in that are restricted to adults 21 and older.

The organization needs 4,726 valid signatures of registered city voters in order to qualify for the November 2015 ballot. The city clerk now has 25 days to certify the petition.

Under the proposed measure, businesses that have a licence to sell alcohol for onsite consumption, such as bars and…

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Colorado Schools to Track Marijuana Offenses by Students

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DENVER, CO — Colorado schools will begin compiling data on students who get busted for using or distributing marijuana, an effort aimed at gauging the effects of marijuana’s legalization in the state.

The new requirement is an addition to a 2012 law directing law enforcement and district attorneys to collect information on how students are punished and whether they’re being arrested or ticketed when they should be disciplined by educators for minor offenses.

Schools have been tracking all drug offenses involving students, but marijuana…

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Colorado Defends Marijuana Legalization Law; Asks SCOTUS to Drop Suit

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DENVER, CO — States are free to legalize marijuana, Colorado argued Friday in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court in response to a lawsuit from neighboring states that have asked the nation’s highest court to shut down Colorado’s pot law.

The filing marks the first time Colorado has defended legal marijuana in writing. The federal government did not sue to block the state’s 2012 vote to legalize pot for all adults over 21.

Colorado said that Nebraska and Oklahoma should sue the federal government for not enforcing the Controlled Substances Act, not other states. Colorado said the states’ “quarrel is not with Colorado but with the federal government’s” approach to letting states experiment with pot law.

“Nebraska and Oklahoma filed this case in an attempt to reach across…

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Colorado’s Marijuana Legalization Laws Under Attack in Federal Court

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DENVER, CO – A group of 11 sheriffs and county attorneys from Colorado and neighboring Plains states filed a federal complaint against Colorado’s Gov. John Hickenlooper to stop the sale of recreational marijuana in that state.

The complaint challenges Colorado’s Amendment 64 under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the federal Controlled Substances Act, saying it places an unfair burden on the law-enforcement offices to corral the overflow of recreational marijuana now spilling into areas where possession remains illegal.

“The nation’s anti-drug laws reflect a well-established balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and societal priorities,” the complaint states. “If allowed to continue in effect, Amendment 64’s legalization and…

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Sheriffs Sue Colorado Over Marijuana Legalization

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DENVER, CO — In another attempt to thwart the will of Colorado voters, sheriffs from Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming that the state’s law legalizing marijuana creates a “crisis of conscience” and puts an economic burden on other states.

Larimer County (Colorado) Sheriff Justin Smith is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, which asks a federal court in Denver to strike down the 2012 voter-approved Amendment 64, and to order the state’s licensed marijuana stores — over 330 at last count — to close.

Sheriff Smith claims that every day he must decide whether to violate the Colorado Constitution, under which marijuana is legal, or the United States Constitution.  Marijuana is prohibited at the federal level.

Smith is joined by sheriffs in…

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Colorado Marijuana Sales Total $700 Million in 2014

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DENVER, CO — Retail sales of marijuana totaled just under $700 million in Colorado in 2014 – the first full year during which sales of marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes were allowed.

Total sales for the year were $699,198,805, according to data tabulated by the Colorado Department of Revenue. Sales of medicinal cannabis totaled some $386 million for the year, while marijuana sales at recreational outlets totaled $313 million.

Although retail sales of cannabis to anyone age 21 and older began officially on January 1, 2014, few commercial outlets were operational at that time.

Tax revenue from sales of recreational marijuana totaled some $44 million for 2014. That total includes revenues from the imposition of a special 10 percent sales tax and a 15 percent excise tax…

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Poll: No Buyer’s Remorse over Marijuana Legalization in Colorado

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DENVER, CO — Nearly six out of ten Coloradans say that they support keeping retail marijuana production and sales legal, according to statewide polling data released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University.

The figure is a five percent increase in support since voters approved the law in November 2012. A September 2014 statewide NBC News/Marist College poll previously reported that 55 percent of Coloradoans favored the law.

Men and younger voters were most likely to support legalization. Voters ages 18 to 34 overwhelmingly favored state law (86 percent to 16 percent) while 50 percent of those ages 55 and older opposed it.

Male voters supported the legalization by a margin of 63 percent to 33 percent, while women only favored the law by a margin of 53 percent to 44 percent.

The gender gap in…

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Colorado Sells Nearly $700 Million in Marijuana in 2014

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DENVER, CO — Colorado raked in nearly $700 million in recreational and medical marijuana last year, according to newly released data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Medical and legal adult-use recreational marijuana sales combined for a total of $699,198,805 in sales, with medical marijuana topping the charts at $385.9 million.  Coming in a close second was recreational pot, totaling $313.2 million in sales.

Colorado state Sen. Pat Steadman (D-Denver) said he is“feeling very encouraged by what we’re seeing so far. Everyone keeps calling this ‘Colorado’s experiment with marijuana legalization,’ but so far everything seems to be working better than planned. … Right now we’re still rolling things out, but it just seems to be rolling out smoother than anyone…

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Oklahoma Republicans Encourage AG to Drop Lawsuit Against Colorado Over Marijuana Legalization

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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Citing concerns that it could undermine their own state’s fight to govern themselves under the 10th Amendment, several Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma are urging Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt to drop his lawsuit against the state of Colorado’s legalization of marijuana.

The lawsuit, titled States of Nebraska and Oklahoma v. State of Colorado, was filed in December by Pruitt and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and asks the United States Supreme Court to strike down Colorado’s law legalizing marijuana on the basis that it is “fundamentally at odds” with the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The suit, filed directly with the US Supreme Court, alleges that marijuana is being diverted into their states from Colorado, causing plaintiffs to suffer…

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