Weed is on the Colorado Springs ballot again
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Colorado Springs voters will decide whether the city should allow recreational marijuana sales — or eliminate the possibility altogether.
Why it matters: The decision could boost the struggling cannabis industry, or close the door on recreational sales for good in Colorado's second-largest city.
Context: A decade after Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana sales, residents in the Springs are still debating the issue because it's banned in the city limits.
State of play: Ballot Question 300 would allow the city's roughly 90 existing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell cannabis recreationally, while Ballot Question 2D would change the city charter to ban recreational sales.
Zoom in: The city, long heralded as a conservative haven, has rejected measures similar to Ballot Question 300 in the past, most recently in 2022, when voters overwhelmingly voted against allowing recreational sales.
- Opponents of this year's measure say prohibiting recreational sales is key to ensuring the city maintains its military outposts.
- Some residents are concerned about young people using cannabis, as THC levels in marijuana have significantly increased over the past 20 years.
The intrigue: Colorado Springs City Council passed a law last month severely limiting where recreational marijuana dispensaries can open.
- Councilmember Nancy Henjum, who opposed the law, called it an "overreach."
- Councilmember Dave Donelson, who initially supported the law, told FOX21 News last month the council should have waited before enacting it: "I thought we were jumping the gun," he said.
What's next: In the unlikely event that the opposing measures both pass, city attorneys say the question of changing the city charter would take precedence, according to the Gazette.
Colorado College students Liam Cardenas Ferguson, Polina Panasenko, Sydney Perincheril and Johanna Westphal contributed to this report.