Colorado marijuana legal after governor signs declaration of Amendment 64
While possession of up to an ounce of pot is legal in Colorado, work remains to sort out a framework for sales and to discern the aims of federal drug enforcement law.
Pot smokers light up in honor of new law: The law in Colorado allowing people 21 years and older to possess marijuana inspired a group to show their appreciation by smoking pot on the Capitol steps.
Marijuana is legal in Colorado for people 21 and older to use, possess, distribute and cultivate in limited quantities after Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday signed a declaration formalizing voter-approved Amendment 64.
“This is a truly historic day,” said Mason Tvert, co-director of the campaign to pass the measure. “From this day forward, adults in Colorado will no longer be punished for the simple use and possession of marijuana.”
Now, marijuana can be consumed as long as it is not done publicly or in a manner that endangers anyone. Up to 1 ounce of it can be possessed legally or transferred from one person to another, provided there is no remuneration for it, until the Legislature provides a mechanism for the sale, according to Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue. Also as of Monday, cultivating up to six marijuana plants in Colorado is legal under Amendment 64.
“Voters were loud and clear on Election Day,” Hickenlooper said. “We will begin working immediately with the General Assembly and state agencies to implement Amendment 64.”
Statute afforded Hickenlooper until Jan. 5 to sign the executive order, but he did so just four days after Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler certified the Nov. 6 election results in which 55 percent of voters statewide and a comparable percentage in Larimer County embraced legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.
The Colorado Legislature plans to tackle assorted issues around the legalization of marijuana during the upcoming legislative session, including how to tax it, establishing a regulatory framework for its sale, changing statutes to reflect the state’s new lenient approach to marijuana and providing for legal means to produce industrial hemp.
Hickenlooper also issued an executive order Monday forming the 24-member Task Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64 to guide the legislative course for marijuana legalization. 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, marijuana consumers, employers and employees, among others. http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20121210/NEWS01/312100022
