Medicinal marijuana has long been a hotbed political issue since the legislation first passed in Colorado in 2000. Denver dispensaries are now no longer the target of the federal government, but with the passing of Amendment 64, the entire state of Colorado has put itself on a worldwide spotlight to see how the legalization measure fares when the state and local governments begin to implement the regulatory body designed to handle it.
No one is quite sure of how the federal government will react to the implementation of this new legislation, but a line has been drawn in the sand, and the Obama Administration will be the ones responsible for how the choice of Colorado voters is respected from this point forward. Considering the massive landslide in which the legislation passed (by 5 more points than Obama did, even!), it is critical to understand the will of the voting public does not support prohibition, and the politicians who call Coloradans their constituents have already acted in respect to the voter’s views, whether they personally support legalization or not.
All Colorado eyes are on the federal government right now, wondering how they will react to the decision of the voters is making many Colorado residents antsy. With the massive migration of people to Colorado as a result of the approval of medical marijuana in 2000, many are interested to see how the state and local governments will deal with the massive population increase that is slated to happen if Amendment 64 is left unchallenged by the powers that be. We’ll just wait and see.