COLORADO SPRINGS – The debate of whether or not to allow recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs has returned to the Olympic City as a group of citizens filed to create a petition to put the issue on the ballot.
Ideally, for organizers like Clifton Black, the issue makes it to the general election in November. If it makes the ballot and voters approve it, the issue would not allow for new licenses for recreational stores, rather would instead allow the dozens of medical marijuana shops in the city to sell to people without a prescription for the plant.
“Right now, anybody who is not a patient but wants to use recreational marijuana is limited to going to Manitou Springs or Pueblo County or buying from the legal market,” said Black, a cannabis attorney for businesses at the Law Offices of Clifton Black.
Black, like many proponents of recreational marijuana over the years in Colorado Springs, points to the tax revenue the city is missing out on.
In the City of Pueblo (excluding Pueblo County tax revenue), approximately $1,163,024 was brought in from retail marijuana taxes from December 2020 through November 2021.
Hundreds of thousands of more dollars were brought in through licensing fees, according to the city’s latest budget.
Colorado Springs has more than four times the residents of Pueblo, and Black estimates the city could bring in $10-15 million in tax revenue. He believes that most of the customers Colorado Springs “misses…
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COLORADO SPRINGS – The debate of whether or not to allow recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs has returned to the Olympic City as a group of citizens filed to create a petition to put the issue on the ballot.
Ideally, for organizers like Clifton Black, the issue makes it to the general election in November. If it makes the ballot and voters approve it, the issue would not allow for new licenses for recreational stores, rather would instead allow the dozens of medical marijuana shops in the city to sell to people without a prescription for the plant.
“Right now, anybody who is not a patient but wants to use recreational marijuana is limited to going to Manitou Springs or Pueblo County or buying from the legal market,” said Black, a cannabis attorney for businesses at the Law Offices of Clifton Black.
Black, like many proponents of recreational marijuana over the years in Colorado Springs, points to the tax revenue the city is missing out on.
In the City of Pueblo (excluding Pueblo County tax revenue), approximately $1,163,024 was brought in from retail marijuana taxes from December 2020 through November 2021.
Hundreds of thousands of more dollars were brought in through licensing fees, according to the city’s latest budget.
Colorado Springs has more than four times the residents of Pueblo, and Black estimates the city could bring in $10-15 million in tax revenue. He believes that most of the customers Colorado Springs “misses…
