Jun 09, 2010
Bill Ritter, Colorado, dispensaries, marijuana regulation, Rasmussen
Earlier this week, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed two bills that will regulate the state’s booming medical marijuana industry and bring definitive legal status to about half of Colorado’s estimated 1,100 dispensaries.
The new law will make Colorado home to the largest number of state-licensed dispensaries anywhere in the United States. A state-regulated medical marijuana program is up and running in New Mexico and similar programs will soon be operational in Rhode Island, Maine, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. — but the number of sanctioned dispensaries to be allowed in each of those states is fewer than 10. Colorado’s law will authorize hundreds, and potentially more if future demand increases.
The Centennial State now has the opportunity to set a national example for how to oversee and regulate a large, orderly, and well-functioning medical marijuana industry. And while the country keeps its eye on California to see if that state’s voters decide to lift marijuana prohibition entirely this November, Colorado seems increasingly poised to take that next crucial step as well. A Rasmussen telephone poll released May 15 showed that 49 percent of likely Colorado voters support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, with an additional 13 percent still undecided.