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COLORADO SPRINGS — Weeks after residents voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs, elected leaders are considering putting the issue back on the ballot in April, saying people who voted “yes” could have been mistaken.
The city council is expected to vote at its next meeting Jan. 28 whether to re-refer the issue to the April 1 ballot, when voter turnout is historically lower than general elections, claiming that “confusing” language had muddied the issue.
The move markeda further show of resistance to recreational marijuana in a city whose officials have long argued that it contributes to crime and increased drug use. Colorado Springs is the largest city in Colorado that has refused to allow the sale of recreational marijuana since it became legal in January 2014.
“It boggles my mind that we want to put it on the ballot again,” Councilwoman Yolanda Avila said Tuesday, adding that she would not support pushing the measure to another vote.
“I find that the citizens of Colorado Springs, the constituents, the voters are pretty smart,” she said. “And I think it’s so unfair that, in November was a presidential election when people get up to vote more than any other time, we are going to have the least voter turnout April 1, because we don’t even have the mayor running.”
In November, voters approved ballot question 300, with 54% marking “yes” to allow the existing medical marijuana businesses in the city to become eligible to apply for recreational licenses. The businesses would be required to comply with a 1,000-foot buffer zone from schools, day care centers and treatment facilities.
Data shows 130,677 people voted in support of the measure in a turnout that brought a record number of voters in November.
But the voter-approved initiative directly conflicted with an ordinance council members adopted in September, prior to the general election, that set the buffer to 1 mile for recreational cannabis shops if they were to be approved by voters.
A 1-mile buffer zone would effectively prevent any of the existing medical shops in the city from applying for recreational cannabis licenses.
Even as the council considers putting the issue of recreational sales back on the ballot, it voted Tuesday 6-3 to amend the buffer zone to 1,000 feet, matching the measure voters approved in November.
The city will begin accepting applications for recreational marijuana licenses no later than Feb. 10. The city has 60 days to review the applications, which would be days after the April 1 election. Only business owners who already hold a medical marijuana license are eligible to apply.
Inside a standing-room only city council chambers Tuesday, more than two dozen people argued the city council members were overcomplicating the process and ignoring the will of voters.
Colorado Springs resident Aaron Bluse, an owner of Altitude Organic Medicine which has three medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado Springs and an adult-use shop in Dillon, said he would lose faith in the council if a second vote in April is held.
“The reason we were so adamant about our position today is that there’s a clear subversion of the will of the voters and that there’s a high level of dissonance between the council and what the voters really want in this city,” Bluse said.
“We’ll fight it completely and we will continue to enact the will of the voters, which has clearly spoken in the most turnout that the city has ever seen in the 2024 November election.”
Supporters of the measure said recreational sales would bring jobs and revenue to the city. Currently if residents want to buy recreational marijuana products, they must drive to adjacent Manitou Springs to the west, or Pueblo, about an hour south.
Among those pushing for a new ballot measure on pot was Councilman Dave Donelson, who suggested during a work session Monday that Question 300 was poorly worded and may have misled voters. He proposed that residents have the chance for a new vote to “know once and for all if these citizens want recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs or not.”
“The previous vote, I think, was confused,” Donelson said. “And I think it really could have had the impact that something passed that the majority of citizens don’t really support.”
Also on the ballot in November was 2D, which asked for a total ban of recreational marijuana sales. That measure, which needed the support from a majority of voters, failed with 49%.
Council member David Leinweber raised concerns about the potential effects on kids.
“While we must respect the vote, we will, we also have a responsibility for public safety,” Leinweber said. “And as I hear about countless stories of youth who have had challenges with psychosis, anxiety, mental health, as a representative of the city, I have to have concerns about that.”
Kent Jarnig, a combat veteran who fought in Vietnam and chair emeritus for the El Paso County Progressive Veterans of Colorado, said THC helps him and other veterans cope with the longstanding effects of war.
“Unless you are in combat, you don’t really understand what it is like, why when they come home, when they’re in peace, all of a sudden they’re drinking, all of a sudden they’re doing drugs,” Jarnig said. “And I’m here to try and hope you will understand my words on what recreational, or what I call THC cannabis products, mean to us.”
He said all of his doctors support his use of THC.
“If each of you won’t support recreational marijuana, by simple logic, you must ban the sale of cigarettes and alcohol in Colorado Springs,” Jarnig said.
“I get the feeling that city council is going to keep putting this on the ballot until it’s falling down,” he said, with a round of applause from the audience.
Another veteran said approving the sale of recreational marijuana would mark a “significant step” toward improving access to resources for people suffering from PTSD, chronic pain and other health conditions.
With a medical marijuana card, people diagnosed with PTSD and other conditions can purchase marijuana products at one of the nearly 90 medical marijuana centers in the city.
On Tuesday, the council also approved an ordinance creating an additional sales tax of 5% on recreational marijuana sales in the city. The generated revenue will go into a fund that will support public safety programs, mental health services and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment programs.
City officials estimate about $2 million per year could be funneled into that fund, though the amount is highly dependent on how many medical marijuana business owners apply for licenses to sell recreational marijuana.
In 2017, the city placed a cap on the number of medical marijuana business locations and is no longer accepting applications for new centers.
Financial experts for the city expect recreational marijuana sales to bring in an additional $350,100 in sales tax revenue annually.
The debate in Colorado Springs comes as marijuana sales — and tax dollars — continue to fall statewide. While cannabis sales peaked in the 2020-21 budget year, when the state collected $424 million in sale and excise taxes, it fell 41% to $248 million in the 2023-24 budget year.
“}]] More than two dozen residents argued that city council members would be ignoring will of the voters if they put measure on April 1 ballot. Read More
