The campaign to legalize pot in Alaska is highlighting comments made by Ron Kammerzell, deputy senior director of enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue, who said in a recent interview that rules governing the state’s recent legalization of pot “have performed pretty well thus far.” Kammerzell told Vox that those who have predicted post-legalization chaos have proven to be wrong.
“(T)he average person would say it was much ado about nothing,” Kammerzel said, referring to pre-legalization concerns. “I would say that the rollout was extremely smooth, the sky hasn’t fallen like some had predicted, and we’re moving forward and trying to fine tune this regulatory model.”
A Quinnipiac University Poll poll by shows that by a margin of 52 to 38 percent, Colorado voters believe that legalizing marijuana has been good for Colorado.
The poll and the comments by Kammerzel and others in Colorado, including the governor, run counter the narrative being created by the campaign that’s fighting legalization.
The campaign, “Big Marijuana. Big Mistake,” has portrayed Colorado’s experience as a dangerous, chaotic mess that voters regret.
It’s not been all smooth in Colorado, however, There has been an uptick in emergency room visits. So-called “edibles” have been a particular problem. A handful of children have gotten their hands on goods, baked with pot, and two recent deaths have been attributed to them.
The legalization question will be on the general election ballot in November.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
The nation’s trending and momentum are clear, somewhat like with gay/lesbian marriage acceptance, that marijuana use – beyond purely medical necessity, will be legalized soon enough. The Feds really need to afford the states purview and not continue with a looming criminal threat. My hunch is this one loses in November, but close in margin, unless the messaging is ramped up and user groups targeted to register to vote and then go to the polls execute their decision. If it does pass, the only question I have is what becomes of the multitude of pending and under-investigation state cases involving pot.
“decide”
The People of Alaska will decided soon enough.
Good article but you can’t say marijuana edibles “caused” those deaths in Colorado. The guy who killed his wife was also on pain meds and appears to have been a deranged human being to begin with.