Medical marijuana election: 26 cities and towns vote on new MMJ rules next week

While a move to follow California's lead and put the legalization of marijuana on next week's state-wide ballot didn't come to pass, many Colorado voters will still asked to vote about pot issues on November 2. That's because many cities, towns and counties put measures dealing with medical marijuana centers...

By Joel Warner

October 26, 2010

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While a move to follow California's lead and put the legalization of marijuana on next week's state-wide ballot didn't come to pass, many Colorado voters will still asked to vote about pot issues on November 2. That's because many cities, towns and counties put measures dealing with medical marijuana centers on their own ballots.

The state's new medical marijuana regulations allow Colorado municipalities to decide for themselves whether they want to allow MMJ sales within their boundaries. According to the Colorado Municipal League, 26 cities and towns have such questions on the ballot, including Akron, Aurora, Broomfield, Castle Pines North, De Beque, Dinosaur, Elizabeth, Federal Heights, Fountain, Fraser, Granby, Hillrose, Hot Sulphur Springs, Jamestown, La Junta, Lake City, Lone Tree, Loveland, Minturn, Olathe, Otis, Ouray, Paonia (which also has a second measure on whether grow facilities should be allowed), Ramah, Sugar City and Windsor.

Similar questions are on the ballots of unincorporated areas in fourteen counties, including Delta, El Paso and Mesa counties.

Locales where voters decide to ban dispensaries will join the twenty-plus municipalities where town and city councils have already passed such ordinances, including Broomfield, Castle Rock, Greeley, Hayden, Kremmling and Superior.

And in eight municipalities -- De Beque, Fraser, Fruita, Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, Mountain View, Paonia and Pueblo -- voters will also be asked if they want to add additional taxation to medical marijuana. After all, why ban it when you can cash in instead?

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner