Pubdate: Wed, 27 Mar 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold
Page: 4A

COLORADO LACKS FUNDS TO POLICE REC MARIJUANA

Deputy AG Says the State Needs a Multimillion-Dollar Funding Plan to 
Regulate Non-Medicinal Pot.

The failings of Colorado's medical-marijuana system show the danger 
of not spending enough money on regulations for recreational pot, a 
state attorney told lawmakers Tuesday morning.

Deputy Attorney General David Blake, who sat on a task force that 
proposed rules for recreational marijuana in Colorado, said lawmakers 
must create a consistent, multimillion-dollar funding stream to 
adequately police the forthcoming recreational marijuana system.

"If (the regulation of) this industry is not fully funded, it will be 
a huge problem for the state of Colorado," Blake said.

Blake's comments came at the same time lawmakers in a different 
meeting were learning the results of a scathing audit on the state's 
under-funded medical-marijuana regulatory system. The audit concluded 
that medical-marijuana regulations have failed in part because of a 
lack of money.

Without enough money for enforcement, regulations intended to keep 
recreational marijuana away from kids or leaking into the black 
market will similarly founder, Blake said.

"The lesson is that you have to have a sustainable, long-term funding 
mechanism," Blake said. "It is the key to having this industry legitimized."

Blake was speaking during one of the last meetings of the 
legislature's joint marijuana committee, which is taking the 
Amendment 64 task force's suggestions and working them into a bill. 
The committee must finish its work by the end of the week. It is 
scheduled to hold its final meeting Thursday morning, at which it 
will decide on the most contested issues before it: taxes, industry 
structure, marijuana potency, cannabis tourism and more.

The task force has suggested that lawmakers seek heavy taxes on 
recreational pot. In addition to a 15 percent excise tax and a 
standard 2.9 percent state sales tax, the task force urged 
legislators to ask voters to approve an extra sales tax on marijuana 
- - perhaps as much as 25 percent.

Amendment 64, the measure Colorado voters approved legalizing 
marijuana and allowing it to be sold in special stores, says the the 
state can charge up to $5,000 in application fees to open a pot shop. 
But Blake, who sat on the task force, said fees alone are unlikely to 
be able to pay for the regulations, even if lawmaker also create 
extra licensing and renewal fees.

Jack Finlaw, an attorney for Gov. John Hickenlooper, said lawmakers 
also can't depend on the possible excise tax because the amendment 
earmarks the first $40 million collected annually for school construction.

"Even if the excise tax is approved, there will be no money going 
into the general fund for the foreseeable future," Finlaw said.

That has left officials looking for new money sources.

One proposal is for the state to use fee money meant for 
medical-marijuana regulation to pay for the first months of 
recreational marijuana policing. That, however, could prompt 
lawsuits, and some lawmakers on Tuesday were skeptical of the approach.

"I understand we're in a bad spot," Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, 
said. "But are we going to spend a lot of money on lawsuits to scrape 
over a little bit of money?"

The state must start issuing licenses for recreational marijuana 
stores by Jan. 1, 2014. Lawmakers, though, only have until May 8 - 
the last day of the legislative session - to finalize rules for the industry.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom