Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 on Nov. 6, 2012.
DENVER — This week marks 10 years since Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, clearing the way for marijuana legalization in the state and prompting more than a dozen other states to follow suit.
In the decade of legalization, Colorado reports $13.4 billion in legal marijuana sales, resulting in $2.2 billion in taxes collected.
“I think it’s just been an unqualified success,” said Brian Vicente, one of the co-directors of the campaign to pass Amendment 64.
He and his co-director Mason Tvert said the amendment delivered on its goals.
“The win in Colorado really inspired a lot of discussion and got a lot of elected leaders both in the U.S. and abroad examining their cannabis policies,” Tvert said.
In the years since 2012, when Colorado and Washington state passed legalization efforts, 17 other states and the District of Columbia have also approved recreational cannabis. Many used the same campaign and policy playbook debuted in Colorado, Tvert said.
“I feel like the Colorado model should be exported to other states and other countries and the world would be better off,” Vicente said.
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