by Tatum Wallis
In 1937, Samuel Caldwell was the first person to be arrested for possession of marijuana in the United States. Since then, there have been approximately 26 million marijuana-related arrests across the U.S. In 2012, Colorado pioneered the way for legal recreational use of marijuana. Also known as Mary Jane, pot, the Devil’s Lettuce, weed, grass, and ganja, marijuana has earned a reputation for its euphoric properties that leave users overusing words like “bro” and “dude,” as well as the urge to snack voraciously on anything and everything (this is called “the munchies”). In other words, marijuana affects users by putting them in a more relaxed mood and triggering an increased appetite. Since its legalization in 2014, recreational marijuana has spread across the state of Colorado like wildfire.
The rise of recreational marijuana use requires an understanding of how it came into place, and the laws and regulations that have been set up to control it. Amendment 64, the Colorado Marijuana Legalization Amendment, was voted in on November 6 on the 2012 ballot. (While most people think that 4/20 is the “anniversary” of legalized marijuana use, the term 4/20, according to The Huffington Post, actually arose from people in San Rafael, California, who nicknamed the substance after the police code “420” for “Marijuana Smoking in Progress.”) Voters from across Colorado were faced with the decision of whether or not they wanted their state to become a hub for stoners everywhere: 55.32% of the population voted in favor of the amendment, with 44.68% opposed. After eight different initiatives were filed by the Colorado Legislative Counsel, the motion was finally put in place. Stoners everywhere rejoiced.
Marijuana was now legal, for people twenty-one and older, to be used recreationally, but this didn’t mean complete free reign. Usage of the drug came with certain restrictions, similar to those of alcohol. By law, legal adults can be in possession of one ounce of any product containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the chemical responsible for the drug’s psychological effects on the brain. THC works by attaching to receptors in the brain called cannabinoids and affecting brain functions like pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, movement, coordination, and sensory and time perception.
When it comes to public consumption, the laws regarding marijuana are the same for those of alcohol: in essence, “Don’t do it.” The laws against public consumption of marijuana also apply to all national parks, forests, monuments, or any other federal property, including courthouses. (A warning to all of the skiers out there: a majority of ski areas in Colorado are federal property, and smoking a joint at the slopes could result in a thousand-dollar fine and land you up to a year in prison.)
The legal amount of marijuana allowed in your system to drive is five nanograms per milliliter of blood, but driving while under the influence of marijuana, like driving under the influence of alcohol, is risky. While vehicles are considered private property, it is illegal to possess any open containers of marijuana, including bags, in the passenger area of the vehicle, as well.
Many people who live at 5280 (a term used to describe the Mile High City) have also taken up cultivation of the plant. While this act is entirely legal under a proper permit, it allows for only up to six Cannabis plants, and only three of those plants may be flowering at a single time. As with the smoking of marijuana, its cultivation must be in a closed, locked, and private space.
Many assume that recreational marijuana is a statewide policy, but Amendment 64 is an opt-in policy, meaning that each of Colorado’s jurisdictional areas can decide for themselves whether or not they will participate. There are sixty-four counties in the state of Colorado and, according to Denver Westword(a Colorado news source), thirty-nine have banned recreational-marijuana retail businesses.
Colorado regulates the production and retail of marijuana through the use of “Seed to Sale Tracking,” which follows a Cannabis plant from when it is planted to its harvesting and then from there to when it is finally sold. This policy was designed to prevent any oversupply that could result in illegal sales to minors or on the black market.
In response to the legalization of recreational marijuana, lawmakers proposed Proposition AA, which went into action on January 1, 2014, enacting a fifteen percent excise tax and a ten percent sales tax on all marijuana retail products. Many people in the state of Colorado were excited to see the beneficial changes in the state as a result of the additional tax income. According to the Colorado State Tax Reports, taxes placed on recreational marijuana have brought in $176,940,258 in tax revenue from January to August of 2018 compared to the $67,594,323 in 2014. This sum only accounts for six months, which means that, by the end of 2018, this number is likely to have nearly doubled.
Since its legalization in 2014, recreational marijuana has brought billions of dollars into the Colorado economy, and the number is only expected to increase. The flood of additional income has gone toward many government departments in the state, as well as filling state budget gaps. (The money also goes to the Department of Health and Human Services to prevent substance abuse and provide mental health and youth marijuana-use prevention and treatment services.) In addition, the revenue has gone toward construction to improve roadways, a major problem in Colorado because of the rapidly increasing population and ever-changing weather (a recipe for potholes). In order to accommodate the rise of recreational marijuana usage, tax dollars go toward law enforcement, public safety, and public transportation, as well. An important use of the funds — at least from the perspective of this former Denver public school student — is the funding of public schools throughout the state. Colorado has been facing an uproar of angry students, teachers, and parents over public school funding, which is one of the lowest in the nation, alongside Alabama spending. Colorado spends an average of $9,960 on each student compared to the $19,818 in New York. Teachers are paid the bare minimum, and students are not provided with the best possible resources to ensure their academic and educational success. Still, one Denver public school student, Emily Piercy, comments, “You’d think with all this weed money, that we’d be using technology straight out of Tronbut, really, we’re just given these crappy laptops that weigh at least twenty pounds.”
As the profits from marijuana continue to increase, however, Colorado natives look forward to the reformation of the state’s public school system and to major changes in how funding is prioritized. Asked how Colorado public schools could be funded $672 million less than the constitutional requirement, Governor Hickenlooper remarked that those numbers were “pretty remarkable,” but then followed his comment by saying, “We made major investments in K-12 education.”
One of the biggest changes Colorado natives have witnessed over the past couple of years is the major increase of marijuana retail dispensaries popping up all over the state. Drive down any street in downtown Denver, and you will see at least one or two on every block, some even right next to each other. Since 2014, when there were 147 dispensaries in the state of Colorado, there are now 509 according to the Colorado Pot Guide. That’s approximately a third of the 1,489 registered liquor stores. To put this in perspective, counting both medical and recreational dispensary numbers, there are more marijuana retailers in Colorado than there are McDonald’s, Starbucks, and 7-Eleven’s combined, according to the Colorado Pot Guide. In the case of recreational marijuana cultivations, there are 720 cannabis growing facilities in the state now in 2018. In 2014, the number was 192.
Now that it is easier in some places to buy an ounce of pot than a Big Mac, marijuana has become Colorado’s new normal. As a Colorado native, I can’t recall a time when I didn’t hear jokes about people in Colorado being stoners or about the annual 4/20 festival in Civic Center Park, which takes place directly in front of the Colorado Capitol building. Go into any Colorado gift shop, and you’ll find countless amounts of marijuana-themed merchandise including T-shirts, socks, sweatshirts, flags… you name it.
While it’s funny to joke about, recreational marijuana has not entirely benefited the state, despite its great economic impact, including the eighteen thousand new jobs it provided locals in 2015 alone. According to a recent report in the Washington Post,an article entitled “Here’s how legal pot changed Colorado and Washington,”Colorado is now number one in the nation for teenage marijuana usage. A study reported in the Molecular Psychiatry Journalfound that long-term marijuana usage starting during one’s teenage years could damage the hippocampus, the short-term memory center of the brain, and cause memory problems during adult years. Young users also might be more susceptible to increased drug use later in life and other potential mental and physical health problems that have yet to be understood by scientists. Colorado has set a precedent for which long-term impacts are still unknown. Meanwhile, weed has never been more accessible to young people than it is today in the state of Colorado. It’s not only at parties but being used by high school students between classes and after school on a regular basis. And as legal marijuana use grows, so does teen drug usage overall.
However, while most studies of cases of recreational marijuana by young people aren’t positive, a recent study done by the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany, co-authored by a University of Colorado economics professor, found a decrease in the suicide rates of young adult males in states where recreational marijuana has been legalized. The authors mentioned, “The negative relationship between legalization and suicides among young men is consistent with the hypothesis that marijuana can be used to cope with stressful life events.” The study’s authors theorize that it is the result of the drug’s antidepressant nature. The finding may represent a significant step in steering the direction of how we treat mental illness in America today.
Despite the fall in suicide rates, parents everywhere fear that their child is misusing marijuana. However, teens are not the only demographic affected. In 2014, Richard Kirk, a father and husband from Colorado’s Observatory Park neighborhood (a peaceful neighborhood known to be home to many upper middle-class families and near several elementary schools) was given a thirty-year sentence for the murder of his wife, Kristine Kirk. Kristine was on the phone with a 911 operator when her husband shot her. She was calling because he was high and hallucinating and pleading for her to kill him. Kristine was killed while her children watched, and Richard was arrested. No more than ten blocks away from my middle school at the time, the story broke on the local news and shocked those close to the family. It was all anyone in town could talk about. Eventually it was released that Richard’s hallucinations and erratic behavior were the result of marijuana edibles that he had taken earlier that evening. While marijuana isn’t the only culprit in this tragic murder, it couldn’t be completely ruled out as one of the prime suspects. The murder changed the lives of many close to the family, including the couple’s three sons, who went to live with their mother’s parents after the incident.
The case of Richard Kirk may be an outlier in regard to marijuana-related crime, but according to the Denver Post, federal and local agents recently raided multiple homes in the Aurora area on October 10, 2018, seizing dozens of illegal marijuana cultivations designed to be sold on the black market. The police were seen confiscating hundreds of marijuana plants from homes within a relatively nice neighborhood. A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman, Randy Ladd, reported that black market marijuana sales have brought more crime overall to the Denver area, including murders, robberies, and gun sales.
As marijuana sales increase to accommodate the exponentially rising demand by natives and incoming residents, the state of Colorado faces an era of change as it continues to be a case study for legalized marijuana. Natives worry for the safety of their families and their precious state. (Coloradans love Colorado like Kanye loves Kanye.) While it will most likely remain a controversial subject for more than a while, legalizing marijuana certainly presents lawmakers and citizens with some interesting dilemmas.
Lawmakers are faced with a challenge to weigh the consequences of the legalization of marijuana against its various benefits. What does this mean for residents? Will Colorado lawmakers reform this system to prevent the destruction of more lives in an effort to preserve economic success, or will they let legalized marijuana in Colorado run its natural course, whatever that may be?