Does city ordinance circumvent voters on recreational marijuana?

(COLORADO SPRINGS)– Are the voters being ignored? That’s what some are saying after a new ordinance surrounding marijuana in Colorado Springs city limits was passed earlier this month by City Council.

FOX21 NEWS spoke to City Council members to find out why one measure on the upcoming Nov. 5 Primary ballot won’t have much impact, even if it is approved.

The blue on the map below shows a one-mile radius in the Springs where recreationally marijuana will not be allowed to be sold. This is because City Council passed an ordinance banning recreational sales within one mile of K-12 schools, child care centers, or drug & alcohol rehabilitation institutions. Which leaves very little space for dispensaries to operate legally.

“If you put in the city charter that we can’t sell it, it essentially takes away the decision of the voters in the future,” said City Councilwoman Nancy Henjum, District 5.

On the upcoming ballot, Question 2D will ask Colorado Springs voters to approve or deny the sale of recreational marijuana in city limits.

“I think marijuana today is extremely potent. The THC levels are drastically and dramatically higher than they used to be. It’s very bad for young brains, for teenagers, even people in their twenties. Your brain is still developing and it really does have an impact on it,” said City Councilman Dave Donelson, District 1.

Two years ago, the community rejected the question 54% to 46%, but even if voters decide differently this time around, local dispensaries will have limited areas to operate.

“Might be a good idea eventually, but we didn’t need to do it now. I think it annoys a lot of citizens. It seems like Big Brother is telling them what to do and they don’t like that,” added Donelson.

Ballot question 300 asks voters to allow existing medical marijuana licensees to sell recreational pot, but last week Colorado Springs City Council passed an ordinance forbidding retail marijuana outlets from operating within a mile of k–12 schools, child care centers, or drug or alcohol rehabilitation institutions, should they ever be permitted in the city.

“I think those who are opposed are just vehemently opposed and they want to do everything they can. I mean, it’s overreach as far as I’m concerned,” said Henjum. “I mean, I think it’s real overreach on the behalf of this sitting city council to go that far. But… they’re very vehement about their position.”

Now some City Council members, including one who voted in favor of the ordinance, are saying it should have waited.

“I thought we should have waited on that ordinance. I thought we were jumping the gun on that,” said Donelson.

Changing the ordinance would require a new vote–a move Donelson said could be done–but that Henjum said would be difficult at this point.

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