Jefferson County voters to decide fate of marijuana sales, production in unincorporated areas

This November, voters in Jefferson County will have to decide if they want to allow the sale and production of retail and medical marijuana in unincorporated areas of the county.

There are three ballot measures voters will have to make decisions on, two of which have to do with marijuana sales and revenue in unincorporated Jefferson County, which County Commissioner Tracy Kraft-Tharp, broke down in a post on Wednesday: 

1B: Unincorporated Jefferson County is not open to manufacturing, retail, or medical marijuana sales. It's a little-known fact that citizens can't collect signatures and put this on the ballot themselves. The County is placing this option on the ballot for citizens to decide. All state regulations, like setbacks from schools, would apply. 

1C: The ballot initiative assesses a 3-6% tax on the manufacturing, retail, and medical sales of marijuana. The funds would be debruced and used towards public safety services. Public safety services are Coroner, DA and Sheriff services. 

The actual ballot language can be found here: Jefferson-County---Notice-of-Election (jeffco.us)

Bruce Nassau, a Jefferson County resident, and dispensary owner, says for him, the broader issue is about access.

"If you have older people like myself, I'm not a young guy, if I can drive two miles versus driving down to Denver, I'm gonna do it," he said.

Nassau opened Lit Cannabis in 2012 for medical sales and in 2014 for recreational. He says he has customers who do make the trek from the foothills to his Denver store because there aren't enough shops.

"Why should people have to drive 30 minutes or more down here to buy cannabis when you have plenty of commercial or retail space available in the likes of Evergreen or Bergen Park?"

That's the other part that interests Nassau, "I'd like to ultimately have a shop up in Evergreen or Bergen Park area." 

Nassau has been involved in shaping policies for the industry since he started his business. He sees the industry as a well-regulated machine at this point and says legalization in unincorporated Jefferson County is a smart move. 

"We're creating jobs for local people, it helps the whole tax base," he said.

If approved, the measure would help the county which faces a budget deficit of more than $20 million.

"Already most of the major cities in Jefferson County have legalized, with Arvada being the only exception," said Truman Bradley, the Executive Director of the Marijuana Industry Group (MIG).

MIG has been working with community leaders, policymakers and regulators since medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado.

"The unincorporated JeffCo legalization ballot measure is a logical progression," he said. "Colorado cannabis tax revenue can't be a cure-all for all of a state or city's problems, but let's not get it twisted, the state is still going to collect more than $350 million of marijuana tax revenue this year."

There was a long list of concerns against the ballot measure, ranging from the emissions of grow houses to the impacts on a growing drug problem across the state.

"What we see after a few years of legalization is those fears really go away. Youth use hasn't gone up. We haven't seen increases in crime tied to marijuana, and what is notable is that the tax revenue can really do a lot of good."

For actual ballot language for each of the three initiatives, visit the Jefferson County website. You can also view the language on your actual ballot, which was mailed October 1.