Dueling initiatives related to the sale of recreational cannabis establishments in Colorado Springs are in the process of making their way to voters this November.
A citizen initiative is currently gathering signatures to make it onto the November ballot, allowing Colorado Springs voters to once again decide if the city will allow pot shops.
In 2022, a similar measure failed 54 to 46. Two years later, citizen organizers hope voters’ minds have changed.
“Voters from across the political spectrum — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — are signing our petition because our plan takes a tough and common-sense approach,” said Meghan Graf, spokesperson behind the effort to allow the sale and regulation of retail marijuana in Colorado Springs.
“Under our plan, only existing medical marijuana stores would be able to sell retail marijuana, and our measure imposes real safeguards to keep marijuana away from kids and schools. We’ll be on the ballot this November, and we are eager to debate the politicians who want to ban marijuana.”
On the other side of the debate, City Councilwoman Lynette Crow-Iverson introduced a pair of items related to recreational cannabis establishments during Monday’s work session.
The first is an ordinance that refers a recreational cannabis ban to the November ballot. It would change the city charter to prohibit the operation of recreational cannabis establishments, essentially quashing any future citizen ballot initiatives. A vote of the people would have to overturn it.
It passed out of Monday’s work session and must now be approved twice by the city council during separate August meetings before getting on the ballot.
“Two years ago, the citizens did vote down recreational marijuana. They've already spoken.,” said Crow-Iverson after Monday’s work session. “They're back at it gathering signatures–which is their right–but this is just going to keep us from having to go back every two or three years and run campaigns against it.”
Crow-Iverson said the city could spend upwards of $400,000 of taxpayer money campaigning against these cannabis initiatives each time they come up for a vote.
The second item brought forward by the city councilwoman would be a land use change . If voters end up approving recreational cannabis shops, her second measure will enforce a one-mile buffer zone between a cannabis establishment and schools, childcare facilities, and rehab units.
“Implementing a one-mile buffer zone would help reduce the likelihood of our children perceiving marijuana as safe and easily accessible,” said Crow-Iverson during the work session.
However, she also admitted the one mile buffer was more or less an arbitrary figure.
“There is no science with the mile. We just went a mile in regards to schools, because a mile’s a good distance from our children, from rehab units,” she told fellow councilors. “More of a safety guard. There is no science behind the mile whatsoever. It was just a guardrail.”
The land use measure also passed out of the work session and was referred to the planning commission. If approved there or through a city council appeal, it would come before the council for two hearings before being added to the charter.
Though she didn’t bring it up while speaking with KOAA, Crow-Iverson told news partner The Gazette that she also had fears retail marijuana sales could prove detrimental to Colorado Springs maintaining U.S. Space Command headquarters.
The Biden administration announced in May that it was directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. It remains unclear how the much less severe classification could affect federal enforcement of cannabis laws nationwide.
Public comment for the reclassification included a letter from Colorado Governor Jared Polis submitted on Monday. Polis directly addressed claims from Councilwoman Crow-Iverson regarding cannabis and children.
“Youth use has not increased post-legalization. Colorado youth continue to use cannabis at lower rates than their peers nationally,” Polis wrote. “While we acknowledge harms associated with illicit use, the overwhelming conclusions demonstrate that legalization is contributing to decreased youth use, not the opposite.”
The citizen initiative to legalize recreational sales in Colorado Springs would only allow retail marijuana to be sold in existing medical marijuana stores. It wouldn’t create new licenses or expand the number of stores allowed.
“Tough protections that keep marijuana away from kids and schools are permanently codified into city. We think voters will reject an attempt to ban marijuana and vote for our measure that imposes tough and smart regulation instead," said Meghan Graf with the citizen effort.
In the unlikely event that voters approve both ballot initiatives, allowing and prohibiting retail sales, the city attorney said the charter provision would trump the citizen initiative. But he added it would likely be decided in court in that scenario.
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