Jan 28, 2025
For the third time in six months, Colorado Springs voters will be asked to decide whether they want to allow recreational marijuana sales within the city.
The Colorado Springs City Council voted Tuesday evening to place a question on the April 1 ballot asking to repeal Question 300, the measure that passed in November to begin allowing recreational marijuana licenses and sales within the city. A council-supported companion question on the November ballot to ban recreational sales in the city charter also failed.
Dozens of legal marijuana supporters wearing "Respect Our Vote" stickers filled the council chambers to speak against the repeal, some waiting more than six hours through other council actions to make their comments.
The council voted 7-2 to place the repeal on the next ballot. Council members Nancy Henjum and Yolanda Avila voted against the question.
Council member Dave Donelson, who spearheaded the repeal effort, argued that voters might have been confused by the wording of the question on the November ballot because it mentioned limiting the total number of licenses allowed for marijuana businesses. Donelson said the change was significant enough for the city to demand a second decision.
"It’s going to change the culture of Colorado Springs. It's going to make us more like Denver with the culture of marijuana sales," Donelson said at a council work session Monday.
Supporters of retail marijuana said the city was undermining and attacking November's election results by asking for a repeal during a spring election when voter turnout is traditionally lower.
The sales question passed with 55% support in the November election. The council-supported companion question to ban recreational sales in the city charter had 50.6% of voters saying no.
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"Our vote is our voice. It's how we shape our future. When a governing body disregards that vote, it sets a dangerous message that the voice of the people is optional, not essential," dispensary worker Tifini Scarcella said.
The successful legalization vote came after years of failed ballot questions to allow marijuana sales in Colorado Springs. As recently as 2022, city voters had rejected a similar ballot question to allow medical marijuana stores to apply for retail licenses.
Several speakers said the city would not have been confused if the council-supported question to ban recreational sales in the city charter on the November ballot had passed.
Donelson said that both the charter ban question and the legalization question passed in his council district, which he said was proof voters did not fully understand the issues.
"How can that happen if people are not confused? This is the way we can address that and get the voters' intent," Donelson said.
There was debate at the council's work session Monday over the specific language of the ballot question. The phrasing for the question that was first released by the city government last week was rewritten by Donelson over the weekend, changing the question from "the electors of the city" taking action to a general question about repealing. Donelson's modified version was the one that passed Tuesday.
Questions about retail marijuana rules loom ahead of Colorado Springs City Council's Tuesday meeting
Henjum proposed a longer version of the ballot question specifying that the vote repealed a citizen-initiated ordinance and that only current medical marijuana stores could apply for recreational licenses. Only three council members supported hearing the alternative text: Henjum, Avila and Council President Randy Helms.
Attorney Mark Grueskin, who writes ballot questions as part of his profession, told the council Tuesday that Question 300's language had been approved by the independent title board and ratified by the City Council before the election.
"Not one member of the public, not one member of this council, no one objected to the title as set," Grueskin said. "Were you wrong then that the title was fair and would not confuse voters, or are you wrong now?"
Grueskin said the proposed repeal question was editorializing and did not address all of the significant details from the previous ballot title. While nobody objected to the legality of Question 300's language in court last year, Grueskin said the pro-marijuana group would consider a legal challenge to the repeal effort.
Avila said she had not heard from anyone confused about the question until the past two weeks. She said the repeal effort fits the pattern of the other council members growing increasingly worried last year about the possibility of Question 300 passing.
“I think council members really do believe that this is not good for the city for a variety of reasons, but that’s not the point. The point is that our citizens voted for the ballot issue 300, hands down voted for it,” Avila said.
During Tuesday's meeting, the City Council also finalized the ordinances that will address the licensing, taxing and zoning for marijuana businesses if the repeal does not take place. The city will begin accepting applications for new licenses in February.
The recreational marijuana zoning rules as adopted are nearly identical to the current medical marijuana facilities in the city. The stores must be located at least 1,000 feet from an elementary or secondary school, drug or alcohol treatment center, and public or private day care facilities.
The council also approved a 5% sales tax on recreational marijuana sales. The tax revenue will be directed into a special fund to be spent on public safety, mental health programs and post-traumatic stress disorder for veterans. City voters passed the sales tax program in 2022 separately from the retail sales question.
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