Question 1: Recreational Marijuana

Results

“Do you want to allow the possession and use of marijuana under state law by persons who are at least 21 years of age, and allow the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products subject to state regulation, taxation and local ordinance?”¹

Marijuana is now legal for medicinal use. This would expand it to recreational use for adults over 21, including:

The ability to use up to 2.5 ouces in nonpublc places
The ability to grow a limited number of plants
The ability for retailers to sell marijuana and accessories

Follow the money

New Annual Revenue in 2017-18: $12.8 million ¹
New Annual Revenue in Future Years: $10.7 million

The money will be used to

98% of the revenue will fund the General Fund
2% will go to the Local Government Fund, which is distributed to cities and towns

The money will be coming from

A 10% tax on the sale of marijuana

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:

New tax will in crease revenue.
Regulation makes the industry safer.

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:

The bill could make it easier for those who are underage to obtain the drug. There are loopholes in the language that don’t expressly prohibit possession by those under 21. The bill would have to be revised by the legislature (which is a fairly common practice with ballot measures) to close this loophole.²
Regulating the industry could hurt the current mom and pop providers.
Recreational marijuana use would still be illegal at the federal level.
Since Colorado made recreational marijuana legal, there has been an increase in DUIs.³