2012 Colorado Amendment 64
Colorado Amendment 64 was a successful popular initiative ballot measure to amend the Constitution of the State of Colorado, outlining a statewide drug policy for cannabis. The measure passed on November 6, 2012, and along with a similar measure in Washington state, marked "an electoral first not only for America but for the world."
Enacted as Article 18, section 16 of the state constitution, the law addresses "personal use and regulation of marijuana" for adults 21 and over, as well as commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale: regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol, namely for recreational use. Possession and cultivation of marijuana became legal on December 10, 2012, after governor John Hickenlooper issued an executive action adding Amendment 64 to the state constitution. The commercial sale of marijuana to the general public began on January 1, 2014, at establishments licensed under the regulatory framework.
As of April 2017, 176 of Colorado's 272 municipalities have opted to prohibit retail marijuana activity within their boundaries. While Colorado's second most populous city, Colorado Springs in El Paso county, has prohibited the sale of recreational marijuana, the city has permitted medical marijuana dispensaries.
Ballot summary
Proposed initiative 2011/12 #30 was submitted on January 4 and found sufficient by the Secretary of State on February 27 to appear on the general ballot for the November election.Personal use
Adults 21 or older can grow up to three immature and three mature marijuana plants privately in a locked space, legally possess all marijuana from the plants they grow, legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana while traveling, and give as a gift up to one ounce to other citizens 21 years of age or older. Consumption is permitted in a manner similar to alcohol, with equivalent offenses prescribed for driving under the influence.The new legislation does not apply to medical marijuana.
Commercial regulation
The legislation defines industrial hemp as any part of the cannabis plant, growing or not, "with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration that does not exceed three tenths percent on a dry weight basis." The amendment declares that industrial hemp should be regulated separately from marijuana with higher THC concentrations, and requires the Colorado General Assembly to "enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp" by no later than July 1, 2014.The amendment provides for licensing of cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing facilities, and retail stores. Local governments can now regulate or prohibit such facilities. This amendment requires the general assembly to enact an excise tax to be levied upon wholesale sales of marijuana, requiring that the first $40 million in revenue raised annually by such tax be credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund, known as the Building Excellent Schools today program. The B.E.S.T. program assists in renovation, repairs, and new school construction needs for Colorado public schools. B.E.S.T. receives funding from state land tax proceeds, lottery proceeds, interest tax proceeds, and marijuana sales tax proceeds via Amendment 64. The Colorado Department of Education annual B.E.S.T. reports suggest that Amendment 64 has provided a visible increase in funding to this program. Since implementation of Amendment 64, the Colorado B.E.S.T. program has seen a decrease in overall annual applications numbers, an increase in overall granted applications numbers, and an increase in cash granted amounts since implementation of Amendment 64 in 2014.
Support and opposition
The largest survey for the amendment, conducted October 23, 2012 by Public Policy Polling, indicated that 53% of voters intended to support it, with 46% opposed. On December 9, 2013, more than a year after the passing of Amendment 64, a Public Policy Polling poll showed that the majority of Coloradans still support legal marijuana. With 53% support versus 38% opposition, the survey of 928 Colorado voters showed little change in support for legal marijuana a year on from the amendment vote.Since the amendment passed there has been concern over its conflict with federal substance prohibition laws. The outcome is nevertheless expected to have broad impacts south of the border, including in Mexico where less than a week after the U.S. vote Mexican senators submitted a proposal to legalize marijuana in their country.
Support
Though support for liberalizing drug policy has traditionally been considered a liberal or libertarian cause, Amendment 64 garnered a number of high-profile conservative endorsements, including, most notably, an endorsement from former U.S. Representative and 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo, who claimed, "Throughout my career in public policy and in public office, I have fought to reform or eliminate wasteful and ineffective government programs. There is no government program or policy I can think of that has failed in such a unique way as marijuana prohibition." Similarly, Temple Emmanuel's Rabbi, Steven Foster, endorsed Amendment 64 because, "as clergy, we have the responsibility to talk about what policies serve our community best. You do not have to use marijuana—or even approve of marijuana—to see that our current laws are not working." Many supporters of Amendment 64 did so because they wanted to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the state's law enforcement resources. Proponents believe that permitting recreational use will allow officers to focus on prevention of violent crime and that it will remove some of the burden on the state's prosecutors and courts.Other justifications for support include:
increasing the state's revenue,
subjecting otherwise illicit substances to health and safety regulations for the protections of users,
enhancing individual freedom,
eliminating a black market, and
providing empirical evidence for studying the effects of legalization to identify whether the harms associated with drugs are actually caused by the policy of prohibition.
Yet another argument favoring Amendment 64 is that regulation of marijuana may actually reduce marijuana usage by teens: According to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the organization responsible for much of the campaigning in support of Amendment 64, marijuana use by teens is likely to go down because commercial access would be limited to persons 21 and older. The campaign also points out that teens who currently seek marijuana have to turn to criminals for their supply and that these criminals may expose teens to other, potentially more dangerous drugs like heroin, meth, or cocaine. Supporters also point out that Colorado's experience with medical marijuana supports their conclusion: The CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System monitors a number of statistics for America's youth. The CDC study suggests that marijuana use among Colorado's youths fell by 2.8 percent from 2009 to 2011, while the national rate of youth use increased by 2.3 percent from 2009 to 2011. Furthermore, the CDC found that the availability of drugs on school grounds in Colorado fell 5 percent from 2009 to 2011, while the national rate increased by 3.1 percent over the same time.
Opposition
The group "No on 64" objected to Amendment 64 chiefly because it claimed the amendment would lead to increased use of marijuana, a consequence the group considers harmful. In particular, the group sees marijuana as addictive and as damaging to children because they believe it "permanently affects brain development, impairs learning ability and contributes to depression."On October 14, The Denver Post's editorial board announced its opposition to Amendment 64. The board began by saying, "We believe possession and use of marijuana should be legal," but ultimately encouraged readers to vote against the amendments because "Drug policy simply has no business being in the state constitution."
Implementation
The policies took effect when the Governor ratified the ballots, which was to happen within 30 days of the election. Governor John Hickenlooper officially added the law to the state's constitution on Monday December 10, 2012 making the private consumption of marijuana legal in Colorado. The first stores officially opened on January 1, 2014.Shortly after its passing Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper stated "This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly." On December 10, 2012 Governor Hickenlooper signed Executive Order B 2012-004 to create the Task Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64 to "consider and resolve a number of policy, legal and procedural issues". On March 13, 2013, the task force issued 58 recommendations on how recreational pot should be grown, sold and taxed in the state. On May 28, 2013, Governor Hickenlooper signed several bills into law implementing the task force's recommendations. On September 9, 2013, the Colorado Department of Revenue adopted final regulations for recreational marijuana establishments, implementing the Colorado Retail Marijuana Code. On September 16, 2013, the Denver City Council adopted an ordinance for retail marijuana establishments. These local licensing requirements are in addition to the state licensing requirements.