Governor Signs Amendment 64 Legalizing Marijuana Use

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Mon Dec 10, 2012 at 02:35:53 PM EST
Tags: Amendment 64 (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

It's official. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has signed Amendment 64. Adult possession of small amounts of marijuana is no longer a state crime in Colorado.

Hickenlooper also issued an executive order today forming the 24-member Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64. Its membership will include lawmakers and stakeholders representing the interests of prosecutors, defense lawyers, the medical marijuana industry, backers of Amendment 64, the addiction treatment community, public health institutions, cities, counties, “a representative of marijuana consumers,” employers and employees, among others.

Its meetings will be public, and the targeted date for its recommendations to the governor is Feb. 28.

Congratulations, Coloradans. You did it. Voting matters.

< Dominque Strauss-Kahn and Hotel Maid Settle Civil Suit | Monday Open Thread >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Governor Signs Amendment 64 Legalizing Marijuana Use | 6 comments (6 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

In this instance, (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by lentinel on Mon Dec 10, 2012 at 04:14:09 PM EST

voting mattered.

I wouldn't go so far as to make a generalization about the efficacy of voting, but in this case, it mattered big time.

It would be nice if we had more opportunities to express ourselves directly on matters that directly concern us. War for example. The practice of warrantless wiretaps... things like that.

Bravo to Colorado - and here's to Denver - indubitably the next vacation paradise.

Maybe we should just say... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by kdog on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 09:34:41 AM EST

voting for ballot initiatives matters, in the state's enlightened enough to allow it.

Voting for representation? Not so much in a thoroughly and totally corrupted two party duopoly.


: Very (none / 0) (#5)
by lentinel on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 03:08:04 PM EST

well said.
Perfectly said.

All politics is local. (none / 0) (#2)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Mon Dec 10, 2012 at 07:46:13 PM EST

Good for us. We'll see what happens down the road.

Hick ain't happy about it, but at least he's moving in the right direction.

The governor admonished the task force not to ponder whether marijuana should be legal.
"I don't think we benefit anyone by going back and turning over the same soil. Our job is to move forward," he said.
Hickenlooper told the task force to "work to reconcile Colorado and federal laws such that the new laws and regulations do not subject Colorado state and local governments and state and local government employees to prosecution by the federal government."

The task force members are:

Rep. Dan Pabon, appointed by the incoming Speaker of the House;
Sen. Cheri Jahn, appointed by the incoming President of the Senate;
Rep.-elect Dan Nordberg, appointed by the incoming House Minority Leader;
Sen.-elect Vicki Marble, appointed by the incoming Senate Minority Leader;
David Blake, representing the Colorado Attorney General;
Kevin Bommer, representing the Colorado Municipal League;
Eric Bergman, representing Colorado Counties Inc.;
Chris Urbina, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment;
James Davis, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety;
John Salazar, the Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture;
Ron Kammerzell, the Senior Director responsible for the Colorado Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division;
Christian Sederberg, representing the campaign to pass Amendment 64;
Meg Sanders, representing the medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation industry;
Craig Small, representing marijuana consumers;
Sam Kamin, a person with expertise in legal issues related to the legalization of marijuana;
Dr. Christian Thurstone, a person with expertise in the treatment of marijuana addiction;
Charles Garcia, representing the Colorado Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice;
Larry Abrahamson, representing the Colorado District Attorney's Council;
Brian Connors, representing the Colorado State Public Defender;
Daniel Zook, an at-large member from outside of the Denver area;
Tamra Ward, representing the interests of employers; and
Mike Cerbo, representing the interests of employees.

I'm guessing that a couple of those folks are going to have a hard time adhering to the Gov's mandate.

: That's a large group (none / 0) (#3)
by sj on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 09:13:39 AM EST

I had to look up Christian Thurstone, a person with "expertise" in the treatment of marijuana "addiction".
He gets two out of four stars from 9 patient reviews.

: State Sen. Steve King (ex cop) (none / 0) (#6)
by rdandrea on Thu Dec 13, 2012 at 01:26:50 PM EST

is going to run his "driving while stoned" bill again this year. Last year it died when Speaker McNulty killed the session to kill the civil unions bill.
This year it will pass. A blood test for pot based on little probable cause will become part of express consent provision for a drivers license.
Last year's version had a "Per Se" offense in it, which made it a crime to drive at a certain THC level regardless of the driver's level of impairment. I didn't like that provision at all because it essentially robs the driver of due process.
Let's hope that a compromise emerges that doesn't contain the Per Se provision.