Retail Marijuana 10 Years Later

CAÑON CITY SHOPPER • TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 • PAGE 13

Retail Marijuana 10 years later It's been 10 years since Colorado approved the sale of retail marijuana. Since then, many changes and regulations have been implemented as the landscape of the industry has evolved.

It remains a controversial subject in some areas of the state as many communities don’t allow the sale of it, or in the case of Fremont County, allow only the sale of medical marijuana.

Retail marijuana is sometimes controversial even when a community votes for its sale. Recently, a judge revoked a voterapproved ballot issue in Lamar after finding the organizers who worked to place the initiative on the ballot were misinformed about the process.

But from additional sales tax to funding for schools, the impact of marijuana in Colorado is felt beyond its users.

And as the industry continues to grow and evolve in the next 10 years, certainly more challenges are ahead as each community decides what role it will play.

-- General Manager and Editor Michael Alcala

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Cañon City

Pros and cons of marijuana sales tax

Carie Canterbury / Daily Record

Rhonda Schirado makes a pitch for allowing recreational marijuana retail sales in Cañon City during a city council meeting in 2018.

Officials say decision for retail pot shouldn’t be based on money

By James Gavato The Daily Record

The citizens of Cañon City once voted “no” on a bill that would’ve permitted the legal sale of recreational marijuana in city limits.

“In 2014, the vote of the people of Cañon City rejected allowing recreational marijuana sales,” Ashley Smith, the mayor of Cañon City, said.

“Since then, various groups have asked if recreational marijuana could be allowed.

My answer has consistently remained that it should be up to the vote of the people to decide.”

While individuals have come forward, there has yet

to be a push for the initiative to return to the ballot.

“To date, no citizens group has had the wherewithal to go through the petition process to get it on the ballot,” Mayor Smith said.

A common benefit that most people see in legalizing marijuana sales is the extra tax money that it can bring in for the city.

“Oftentimes, remarks are made that if recreational marijuana sales were allowed, the city tax could make a fortune to fix woes.” Mayor Smith said.

In Salida, Drew Nelson, the City Administrator, mentioned that since the city

Carie Canterbury / Daily Record

A couple holds a sign stating their support in legalizing recreational marijuana during a city council meeting in 2018. legalized marijuana, he believes it has helped the city because of the imposed sales tax.

“I can generally report that retail marijuana has been benign in Salida and hasn’t impacted the city in any way, other than additional sales tax,” Nelson said.

Salida’s mayor Dan Shore mentioned that although the city doesn’t have an increased tax on marijuana sales, he believes the increased revenue has helped Salida overall.

“There were a lot of fears going in, like what would this do to the community, would it

introduce more crime or lawlessness, and we really haven’t seen that,” Mayor Shore said. “It’s provided some pretty good jobs in the community. Although I can’t give data back, I’m sure it’s helped drive a little bit of the tourism here.”

Despite the benefits, Mayor Smith also mentioned her opinion on these sorts of issues.

“In research of cities across Colorado, there are indeed a handful that do garner considerable marijuana funds,” Mayor Smith said. “However, most only collect nominal

sales tax revenues. It’s not an issue that should be motivated by money.”

John Hamrick, who is the District Three City Council Representative, as well as the Mayor Pro Tem, mentioned that if the initiative was placed on the ballot again in Cañon City, it would likely fail.

“I think it’s a pretty controversial subject,” Hamrick said. “I think that it’s one that if we put it on a ballot, it would probably fail and because of that, I think it’s not a good idea for our community because it does have

costs associated with it, both in social services costs and possibly law enforcement costs.”

In terms of regulating marijuana, Nelson felt that Colorado has responded well to the legalization, and the dispensaries have done their part, as well.

“I think the state of Colorado did a great job in setting up regulations to monitor and regulate the industry, and the businesses in Salida have been responsible and responsive to any concerns that the community has had,” Nelson said.

Lamar

City Council nixes putting pot initiatives back on ballot

By James Gavato The Daily Record

During a special Lamar City Council meeting April 4 at City Hall, the council voted to not place the marijuana initiatives on the ballot in 2022.

Judge Mike Davidson ruled March 24 to revoke the legalization of marijuana dispensaries within city limits of Lamar, as well as a tax on marijuana sold.

Before the special City Council meeting, a work session was conducted, in which citizens of Lamar were allowed to present their concerns and idea to the council.

Council Member AnneMarie Crampton from Ward I motioned for City Council to not move on from any mitigation about the ruling that was made by Judge Davidson,

which was seconded by Councilman Joe Gonzalez from Ward III. The council then began its discussion on how to move forward with the marijuana ballot initiatives.

“As a representation of what we see here tonight, it seems like the representation from our community that showed up does not want us to put it on the ballot ourselves, but to let the community go that route,” Council Member Manuel Tamez from Ward I said. “The expression from my perception is that overwhelmingly, they want it left up to them.”

In November 2021, the citizens of Lamar voted in favor of ballot initiatives 2A and 2B, allowing a tax on marijuana sales, as well as allowing dispensaries within city lim-

its.

Wanda J. Rohlman, a citizen of Lamar sued, stating that the initiatives were placed on the ballot incorrectly. Her case would stand, and Judge Davidson revoked the initiatives.

According to the City of Lamar Charter, a petition must contain signatures equaling 15% of votes cast in the previous election. The Herbal Garden and its general manager, Terry Sanchez, were informed that they only need five percent of signatures equaling the number of voters from the previous election.

The council discussed Monday night whether they would place the initiatives back on the ballot, or if those in favor would have to petition again to get the initia-

tives on the ballot.

“I understand people’s passion about bringing this back to a petition,” Crampton said.

“As a person that sat on that committee that worked on those initiatives and the ordinances, it is very complicated. It’s very easy to mess up.

That’s why I make a motion to move that the council refer marijuana questions on the November 2022 general election at this time.”

This motion was seconded

by Council Member Mike Bellomy of Ward III. The council proceeded to vote on this measure, which included both the imposed sales tax, as well as dispensaries being allowed in city limits.

“Whatever the decision ruling is, I would hope that the people that are for it, get out and campaign,” Lamar’s

Mayor Kirk Crespin said.

“Do the work, do the campaigning, get your voice heard, and you utilize this opportunity.”

The motion failed by a four-three vote, with council members Bellomy, Crampton, and Jenkins voting yes.

Council members Tamez, Gonzalez, and Reilly along with Mayor Crespin voted no.

“We’re not saying that we will never put this on the ballot, we’re just saying at this time we’re not doing that for the November 2022 election,” Mayor Crespin said. “It may come back in six months that we need to put one on, or in three months, and at that time we’ll cross that bridge. But as of tonight, that’s the direction.”

Mayor Crespin once again

encouraged those in favor of marijuana to go out and campaign.

Brent Bates, a citizen of Lamar and a volunteer in the cannabis industry, said he is against Davidson’s ruling.

“The vote passed by almost 11% in November, which shows that the people of Lamar want this regardless of the city making a mistake and Judge Davidson ruled that the city messed up,” Bates said. “It is known that the city made the mistake, they committed a wrong and they have the opportunity to overwrite it by just putting this initiative back on the ballot.”

PAGE 16 • TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 • CAÑON CITY SHOPPER

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PAGE 18 • TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 • CAÑON CITY SHOPPER

Cañon City

Carie Canterbury / Daily Record

Washington Elementary School, located at 606 N. Ninth St., was partly funded by the Building Excellent Schools Today grant, which is funded by some marijuana tax revenue.

Marijuana revenues impact schools BEST program has helped renovate schools

Superintendent Adam Hartman said. “One way is through an excise tax syndicate of the BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) Grant. There’s an upfront

By James Gavato that a community puts forThe Daily Record ward, and then there’s a match that comes along Since Colorado legalized through BEST.” marijuana in 2012, many With these two projects school districts across the being completed, the district state have benefitted from is now moving forward with marijuana sales tax. a new project, which will In Cañon City, this revenue has provided a remodel need BEST’s approval.

“We are in the process of of Cañon City Middle submitting the BEST Grant School, as well as a brandnew Washington Elementary application to support some HVAC improvements at School.

Cañon Exploratory School,” “The state actually helps education through marijuana Hartman said. “The match rate right now I think for our taxes,” Cañon City Schools

district at BEST is 31% that we have to show up. We’re hopeful that we get that but that’s all subject to BEST approval.”

Hartman spoke highly of the BEST program and is pleased with the new buildings for students in Cañon City.

“The BEST program is not in its entirety funded through marijuana, but those funds that come from marijuana excise tax are part of what has paid for new buildings,” Hartman said.

“The school district is happy to have new facilities for our kids and the kids take a lot of pride in those buildings and that’s good overall for

performance and morale.”

A concern that has developed since the legalization is kids’ usage of marijuana.

According to the results of the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, taken by students at Cañon City High School every other year, there has been a downward trend in the percentage of marijuana usage among students since 2015.

“What that trend shows is 46% trending downward to 41, down to 24 and this past year down to 15,” Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers said. “I think there’s some validity to these surveys because their anonymous. We don’t get

student names associated with them, and so I tend to think that those are valuable tools that we can look at.”

While these students reported low usage of marijuana, many reported that it would be easy to get marijuana if they choose to.

“One of the ones that is actually trending up is the percentage of students who feel it would be sort of easy or very easy to get marijuana if they wanted,” Summers said. “What you see is 63%, it then drops down to 57, 39, but it was back up to 63% last year.”

If Cañon City were to have dispensaries located within city limits, Summers didn’t

think it would play a huge role in students being able to have easier access to marijuana.

“I don’t know that it would have an impact one way or the other,” Summers said. “If the establishment were put right here in our backyard, students still couldn’t access it directly. They don’t access it directly now either because it’s illegal for their age group.”

While dispensaries in Cañon City may not affect Cañon City Schools, the district will continue to rely on the community and the BEST program to help improve the environment for students.

Law enforcement adapts to policing marijuana

By James Gavato The Daily Record

In 2012, the state of Colorado legalized the use of recreational marijuana in the state. Since that ballot ruling, law enforcement has changed the way that they go about policing marijuana use.

John Schick, who is the Chief of Police in Cañon City, has seen a change of pace in his job. Chief Schick spent 30 years with the sheriff’s office in Glasgow, Virginia, and is now in his first year here in Cañon City.

“I have a considerable

amount of experience policing marijuana as it were illegal in the state of Virginia,” Chief Schick said. “My policing experience in Colorado with legalized marijuana is very little, particularly in my position.”

Chief Schick mentioned the ways that marijuana is policed where it is illegal, as well as in states such as Colorado where it is legal.

“When it was illegal, whether it was considered to be consent search of a person or police K9, when we found them in possession of marijuana, it was a criminal offense,” Chief

Schick said. “I understand the premise that Colorado has legalized marijuana, so their legislation is geared more toward control, so enforcement of marijuana possession or distribution is cumbersome.”

A concern that many citizens have about legalizing marijuana is whether it results in an increase in crime in the city, and Chief Schick mentioned that it is hard to tell the full effects that legalization has on crime.

“I certainly don’t have any data to support or suggest that marijuana has negative-

ly impacted the crime rate here in Cañon City,” Chief Schick said. “If we see a burglary, we may have our suspicions that it may be drugrelated because the person uses narcotics, but there’s no hard data to suggest that it’s absolutely why they committed the crime.”

With dispensaries in surrounding cities and medical marijuana available in Cañon City, Chief Schick mentioned that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has helped reduce black market sales.

“By offering recreational marijuana distribution and

sale points in Pueblo, and Colorado Springs, and medical marijuana sale points here in Cañon City, it certainly reduced the black market of marijuana,” Chief Schick said. “They haven’t eliminated the black market, but I think it’s fair to say that we’ve certainly reduced the need to possess this brand of narcotics illegally.”

As for having recreational marijuana dispensaries in Cañon City, Chief Schick didn’t see it happening soon, but it would be up to the discretion of the citizens of Cañon City, as well as the city council.

“I don’t know what the political will is of city council in that regard,” Chief Schick said. “I know that they have resisted recreational marijuana sales.

Right now, the only thing that can sell or distribute marijuana in Cañon City is medical used marijuana. I’ve heard nothing that would suggest to me that city council or anybody else is interested in medical sales.”

As the 10th anniversary of marijuana being legalized in Colorado approaches, many cities are seeing how the state has changed because of the legalization.

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