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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NORML Forms Multi-State Workplace Drug Testing Coalition

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NORML | February 14, 2017

DENVER, CO — The fact that 190 million Americans now live in states where marijuana has been legalized to some degree is raising a number of questions and issues about how to integrate the American workforce and marijuana consumers rights in regards to drug testing.

With medical marijuana is legal in 29 states and recreational marijuana for adult use in 8 states and Washington DC, millions of responsible and otherwise law-abiding adults remain at risk of being excluded from the…

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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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Colorado DHS Wants $6M from Pot Tax to Fund Public Health Approach to Drug Use and Mental Health

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Drug Policy Alliance | January 19, 2017

DENVER, CO — The Department of Human Services (DHS) in conjunction with the Governor’s Office, at the request and guidance of Drug Policy Alliance and other advocates such as the Equitas Foundation, submitted a request yesterday to the Colorado General Assembly Joint Budget Committee (JBC) to allocate over $6 million annually from the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund for grant-based initiatives that will create meaningful alternatives to criminal justice involvement for…

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In Legal States, Marijuana Regulators Target Home Cultivation

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Two cannabis plants being grown for personal use. (Wikimedia Commons)

Kevin Mahmalji | January 18, 2017

Since its founding, NORML has advocated that statewide legalization efforts – whether through a ballot initiative or using the legislative process – should ideally include provisions that permit and protect the act of home cultivation by marijuana consumers. This advocacy has resulted in more than 16 states now allowing home cultivation, including in six of the eight voter-initiated measures passed in…

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Colorado: Marijuana Sales Surpass $1 Billion in 2016

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NORML | January 12, 2017

DENVER, CO — Retail sales of marijuana in Colorado totaled well over $1 billion in the first ten months of 2016 and are estimated to reach $1.3 billion by year’s end, according to data provided by the state’s Department of Revenue.

The sales totals are an increase over last year, when retailers sold $996,184,788 in marijuana-related products.

Cannabis sales in 2016 have yielded an estimated $151 million in tax revenue to date, $40 million of which will be directed…

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Report: Tax Revenue From Retail Marijuana Sales Exceeds Expectations

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marijuana money - istock

NORML | October 20, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC — Tax revenue collection from retail marijuana sales in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington is exceeding initial projections, according to a report published by the Drug Policy Alliance.

The DPA study finds that marijuana-related tax revenue in Colorado totaled $129 million over the 12-month period ending May 31, 2016 – well exceeding initial estimates of $70 million per year. In Washington, tax revenue totaled $220 million for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2016….

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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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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 Officials Release New Survey Data Showing Teen Marijuana Use Has NOT Increased Since Marijuana Became Legal for Adults; Rate of Use Among Colorado High School Students is LOWER Than National Average

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Colorado Officials Release New Survey Data Showing Teen Marijuana Use Has NOT Increased Since Marijuana Became Legal for Adults; Rate of Use Among Colorado High School Students is LOWER Than National Average

The rate of marijuana use among Colorado high school students was slightly lower in 2015 than in 2011, the year before Amendment 64 was enacted, according to what state officials call the ‘only comprehensive survey on the health, well-being and resiliency of young people in Colorado’

DENVER, CO — Rates of marijuana use among Colorado teens have NOT increased since the state made marijuana legal for adults, according to results of a statewide survey released Monday by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)….

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Denver NORML Pushes to Legalize Marijuana Clubs and Events

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Denver NORML Pushes to Legalize Marijuana Clubs and Events

Marijuana is legal to purchase, possess and to consume in the state of Colorado, but where? Well, if you happen to be in the city of Denver (or most anywhere else in Colorado) the answer is very simple, you can only legally consume cannabis in a private residence. But what if your landlord won’t allow it, or if you are one of the thousands of tourists that visits our great city on a daily basis. Then where do all of those people go? This question is one Denver NORML hopes to help answer this November.

The local chapter of NORML, the…

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Marijuana Trafficking Falls Following Statewide Legalization

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Marijuana Trafficking Falls Following Statewide Legalization

WASHINGTON, DC — Federal marijuana trafficking prosecutions have declined significantly since the passage of statewide laws regulating the plant’s production and retail sale to adults, according to data provided by the United States Sentencing Commission.

According to the new report, the number of marijuana trafficking offenders prosecuted at the federal level fell dramatically after 2012 — declining from over 6,000 annually to fewer than 4,000 in 2015.

“The number of marijuana traffickers rose slightly over time until a sharp decline…

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Our Recent Supreme Court Victory and What It Means

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The recent decision by the US Supreme Court to refuse to hear a challenge to the Colorado marijuana legalization law was a significant victory for those who favor legalizing marijuana and a significant set-back for those who thought the federal courts might help them hold on to the increasingly unpopular policy of criminal prohibition. The name of the case was States of Nebraska and Oklahoma v. State of Colorado.

Original Jurisdiction

First, here’s a brief lesson in Supreme Court jurisprudence. Nearly all cases that make it to the US…

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Marijuana Lawsuit Against Colorado Rejected by SCOTUS

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In 2012, Colorado voted to legalize marijuana production, sales, and consumption for adults, but two neighboring states claimed the law is causing marijuana to spill into their states, creating a law enforcement burden, and that the law is a violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to hear a lawsuit Nebraska and Oklahoma brought against Colorado’s marijuana legalization law, a rare case falling under the Court’s original jurisdiction to hear lawsuits between states.

In…

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US Supreme Court Tosses States’ Lawsuit Against Colorado Over Marijuana Legalization

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US Supreme Court Tosses States’ Lawsuit Against Colorado Over Marijuana Legalization

The United States Supreme Court has refused to take up a lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma over Colorado’s legalization of marijuana.

WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, the United States Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit filed against Colorado by neighboring states over the legalization of marijuana.

The lawsuit was filed in 2014 by the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma, who asked the Court to find that Colorado’s laws legalizing the state-licensed production and sale of marijuana to adults violates the United…

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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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Denver NORML Announces Marijuana Lounge Initiative

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Denver NORML Announces Marijuana Lounge Initiative

This past Friday, Denver NORML announced a new effort to enact a municipal voter initiative this year in Denver to legalize the social use of marijuana in certain venues within the city. The initiative will be known as “Responsible Use Denver,” and will seek to legalize private marijuana clubs for those 21 and up, as well as protect businesses that permit responsible adult marijuana use.

There are a number of important fixes needed to the initial legalization laws, but none impact more smokers than the current ban on marijuana smoking…

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SCOTUS Should Dismiss States’ Challenge to Colorado Marijuana Legalization, Solicitor General Says

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WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli Jr., issued a statement Wednesday advising the Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit Nebraska and Oklahoma filed against Colorado’s marijuana legalization law last December.

Oklahoma and Nebraska attorneys general filed the suit in hopes of re-criminalizing marijuana in Colorado, claiming it had created a burden on their own law enforcement agencies and because marijuana is still federally illegal.

The Solicitor General stated, “Entertaining the type of dispute here – essentially…

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Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court to Dismiss States’ Suit Against Colorado Pot Law

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In a brief filed Wednesday, the US Solicitor General urged the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit by the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado’s marijuana legalization law.

The two states had filed the lawsuit in December 2014, complaining that “the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system” and that “marijuana flows from this gap into neighboring states, undermining Plaintiff States’ own marijuana bans, draining their treasuries, and placing stress on their criminal justice…

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Legal Marijuana Access Motivates Colorado Tourism

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DENVER, CO — Nearly one out of two tourists visiting Colorado acknowledge that their decision is motivated by the state’s permissive attitude toward marijuana, according to the findings of a just-released study commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office.

Among Colorado vacationers surveyed, 49 percent said that cannabis’ legal status influenced their decision, with 22 percent of them saying that it was “extremely influential.”

A record number of tourists visited the state in 2014. Recreational sales of cannabis to adults became…

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Wyoming Considers Making a Pound of Marijuana Edibles a Felony

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CHEYENNE, WY — A panel of Wyoming lawmakers is backing a bill that would make it a felony to possess a pound or more of marijuana-infused edibles as the state grapples with the legalization of recreational pot for adults by neighboring Colorado.

The draft bill that passed the Wyoming legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in a 7-6 vote would also make it a misdemeanor to possess such items as marijuana-infused brownies, candy and other goodies weighing less than a pound.

The proposal, to be introduced in the Wyoming…

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Colorado County Votes to Fund College Scholarships with Marijuana Tax

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DENVER, CO — Students attending college in a southern Colorado county will soon have a chance to tap into the state’s lucrative legal marijuana industry after voters approved a tax on local cannabis growing operations to fund scholarships for higher education.

Voters in Pueblo County approved by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin a measure that imposes a 5 percent excise tax on cultivators who supply Colorado’s medical and recreational marijuana industries, the county clerk’s office said on Wednesday.

Beginning in 2017, any high school…

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Colorado Rebrands Youth Anti-Pot Ad Campaign

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DENVER, CO — Marijuana isn’t evil, but teens aren’t ready for it: That’s the theme of a new effort by Colorado to educate youths about newly legal marijuana.

Colorado launched a rebranding effort Thursday that seeks to keep people under 21 away from pot. The “What’s Next” campaign aims to send the message that marijuana can keep youths from achieving their full potential.

The campaign shows kids being active and reminds them that their brains aren’t fully developed until they’re 25. The ads say that pot use can make it…

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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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