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A final vote from the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday strongly limits where marijuana shops that want to sell recreational marijuana can operate, a move a resident-backed marijuana campaign described as a “backdoor ban” on retail cannabis sales locally.
The council voted 7-2 a second time to preemptively prohibit facilities that sell recreational marijuana from operating within 1 mile of K-12 schools and residential child care and drug or alcohol treatment facilities. Councilwomen Yolanda Avila and Nancy Henjum remained opposed.
Recreational marijuana sales are not permitted currently in Colorado Springs, but medical marijuana sales are.
After the Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation resident group successfully petitioned the question onto the Nov. 5 ballot, voters will get to decide if the roughly 90 existing medical marijuana shops in the city can opt into also selling recreational marijuana.
Voters, too, will decide an opposing council-backed question that proposes changing the city charter to prohibit retail marijuana stores and product, manufacturing, testing and cultivation facilities from operating in city boundaries.
Currently, Colorado Springs limits medical marijuana shops from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and child care facilities.
Opponents on Tuesday again shared concerns the new city ordinance could undermine the will of the voters this fall.
Councilman Dave Donelson said he supported the ordinance but worried the council could be voting on a “non-issue” Tuesday. He suggested the council table its vote until after the November election, to better gauge residents’ support for retail marijuana sales. Councilwoman Lynette Crow-Iverson, who sponsored the ordinance, asked for the second vote to take place as scheduled Tuesday.
A city-provided map depicting existing medical marijuana shops in relation to schools and child care and rehabilitation facilities shows the ordinance would likely limit permitted recreational marijuana sales to the city’s eastern side — illustrating how difficult it could be for retail marijuana shops to find a location to legally operate.
The council’s approval of the 1-mile buffer requirement “is a back-door ban designed to confuse voters,” campaign spokesperson Meghan Graf said in an email Tuesday.
The existing 1,000-foot buffer requirement for medical marijuana shops has not been an issue for city leaders since Colorado Springs began allowing medical cannabis sales, said Tanya Garduno, president of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council.
“Now you’re saying, ‘If you (voters) do approve (retail marijuana sales), we are going to, in essence, ban it in our city,'” Garduno said. “… What you’re trying to do right now is control something that doesn’t exist.”
Medical marijuana sales have brought jobs and tax revenues to Colorado Springs that have helped clean up the city and keep lights on in local parks, she added. The resident-backed campaign proposes dedicating recreational marijiuana revenue to funding public safety programs, mental health services and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment programs.
Crow-Iverson and other supporters have said they believe the zoning buffer will keep marijuana out of the hands of underage users.
Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, which licenses and regulates the state’s medical and retail marijuana industries, prioritizes preventing youth access to regulated marijuana, division spokeswoman Heather Draper said in an email this week.
Colorado allows people who are 21 or older to purchase recreational marijuanas. People who are 18 and older who have a medical card can purchase medical marijuana.
Stores are required by state law to check a consumer’s identification twice before a sale is made. People also cannot enter the sales floor at licensed marijuana shops until their identification has been checked, Draper said.
The division regularly employs underage operatives to try to purchase marijuana at licensed stores in Colorado, efforts to proactively monitor licensed stores’ compliance, she said.
If stores are caught selling marijuana to underage operatives, division investigators issue criminal citations to the employees who made the sale, and the state pursues regulatory penalties for the business, owner(s) and employees who were part of the sale, Draper said.
The state conducts between 300 to 400 checks every year. For the past three years, including 2024 to date, there has been a 99% compliance rate with those checks, Draper said.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division’s public underage sales dashboard shows that of 84 violations in Colorado between September 2015 and April 2023, no marijuana shops in Colorado Springs or El Paso County were cited for selling the drug to underage users.
Councilwoman Avila said medical marijuana is already allowed in Colorado Springs limits. It’s up to adults to use it responsibly and keep it from children the way parents are responsible for keeping alcohol and guns away from their children, she said.
Crow-Iverson has said the council has the authority to implement laws like the one passed Tuesday limiting retail marijuana sales locations.
“}]] A final vote from the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday strongly limits where marijuana shops that want to sell recreational cannabis can operate. Read More