The Task Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64 was a task force of Colorado, charged with considering and resolving a number of policy, legal and procedural issues relating to Colorado Amendment 64, which allows for personal use and regulation of marijuana.
On 10 December 2012, Governor Hickenlooper signed Executive Order B 2012-004 to create the Task Force to "consider and resolve a number of policy, legal and procedural issues". [1] The task force had a deadline of February 28 to submit its proposals, [2] and on March 13, 2013 issued 58 recommendations on how recreational pot should be grown, sold and taxed in the state. [3]
Its membership was composed of: [1]
Mark Emery Udall is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Colorado's 2nd congressional district. Before being elected to Congress, he represented parts of Boulder, Colorado, in the Colorado House of Representatives.
John Wright Hickenlooper, Jr. is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019 and as the 43rd mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff.
Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is a non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado. The SAFER campaign was initially launched in Colorado on the campuses of the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and Colorado State University (CSU) in response to the alcohol overdose deaths of CSU sophomore Samantha Spady, 19, and 18-year-old CU freshman Lynn "Gordie" Bailey. SAFER, led by Mason Tvert, argued that students should not be punished more severely for using marijuana – which is incapable of causing death by overdose—than for using the potentially fatal drug alcohol.
Betty June "B.J." Nikkel was a state representative in the U.S. state of Colorado. She served in House leadership as Republican House Majority Whip, the fourth highest-ranking leader in the Colorado House of Representatives. Nikkel was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives in January 2009 by vacancy committee to fill the vacancy caused by Kevin Lundberg's appointment to the Colorado State Senate. She was sworn in on January 22, 2009.
Kim Lee Ward is an American politician who currently serves as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate. She was first elected to the state senate in 2008, and represents the 39th Senatorial District which covers the central portions of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Following the resignation of Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, Ward became acting lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania on January 3, 2023, and served until January 17, 2023. She is the first female president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate.
In Colorado, cannabis has been legal for medical use since 2000 and for recreational use since late 2012. On November 7, 2000, 54% of Colorado voters approved Amendment 20, which amended the State Constitution to allow the use of marijuana in the state for approved patients with written medical consent. Under this law, patients may possess up to 2 ounces (57 g) of medical marijuana and may cultivate no more than six marijuana plants. Patients who were caught with more than this in their possession could argue "affirmative defense of medical necessity" but were not protected under state law with the rights of those who stayed within the guidelines set forth by the state. The Colorado Amendment 64, which was passed by voters on November 6, 2012, led to recreational legalization in December 2012 and state-licensed retail sales in January 2014. The policy has led to cannabis tourism. There are two sets of policies in Colorado relating to cannabis use: those for medicinal cannabis and for recreational drug use along with a third set of rules governing hemp.
Joseph A. Garcia is an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 48th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado from January 2011 to May 2016. He is currently the chancellor of the Colorado Community College System.
Cory Scott Gardner is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Colorado from 2015 to 2021. A Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Colorado's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2015 and a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.
Washington Initiative 502 (I-502) "on marijuana reform" was an initiative to the Washington State Legislature, which appeared on the November 2012 general ballot, passing by a margin of approximately 56 to 44 percent. Originally submitted to the Washington Secretary of State during the summer of 2011, enough signatures were collected and submitted by December to meet the required 241,153 signatures, sending it to the legislature. When the legislature adjourned without action in April, Initiative 502 automatically advanced to the November 2012 general ballot. It was approved by popular vote on November 6, and took effect over the course of a year, beginning with certification no later than December 6, 2012. Along with a similar Colorado measure, Initiative 502 was credited for encouraging voter turnout of 81%, the highest in the nation.
Colorado Amendment 64 was a successful popular initiative ballot measure to amend the Constitution of the State of Colorado, outlining a statewide drug policy for cannabis. The measure passed on November 6, 2012, and along with a similar measure in Washington state, marked "an electoral first not only for America but for the world."
Cannabis in Massachusetts is legal for medical and recreational use. It also relates to the legal and cultural events surrounding the use of cannabis. A century after becoming the first U.S. state to criminalize recreational cannabis, Massachusetts voters elected to legalize it in 2016.
Brian Vicente is an American attorney and marijuana rights advocate. He is a partner and founding member of Vicente LLP, which Rolling Stone has labeled "the country's first powerhouse marijuana law firm." Vicente was one of the primary authors of Colorado Amendment 64 and was co-director of the successful 'Yes on 64' campaign in 2012, which resulted in Colorado becoming the first state in the world to make the possession, use, and regulated distribution of marijuana legal for adults.
Vicente LLP, formally known as Vicente Sederberg, is an American cannabis law firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado that represents clients in the cannabis and psychedelics industries, and works on state and local cannabis policy reform. Since 2019, the firm has been nationally recognized by Chambers and Partners as one of seven Band 1 Law firms in the US practicing cannabis law.
Evelyn Sanguinetti is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th lieutenant governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019 under Governor Bruce Rauner. She previously served on the Wheaton City Council. Sanguinetti announced her candidacy for the 2020 election in Illinois's 6th congressional district, challenging first-term Democratic incumbent Sean Casten, but dropped out on October 11, 2019. She and Rauner are the last Republicans to hold statewide office in Illinois.
Kayvan Khalatbari is an Iranian-American entrepreneur; he was a mayoral candidate in Denver, Colorado, in 2019.
Wanda L. James is the first African American woman to own a marijuana dispensary in the United States.
The Cole Memorandum was a United States Department of Justice memorandum issued August 29, 2013, by United States Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the presidency of Barack Obama. The memorandum, sent to all United States Attorneys, governed federal prosecution of offenses related to marijuana. The memo stated that given its limited resources, the Justice Department would not enforce federal marijuana prohibition in states that "enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form and ... implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana," except where a lack of federal enforcement would undermine federal priorities.
The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act was a bill proposed in the 115th United States Congress that would recognize legalization of cannabis and the U.S. state laws that have legalized it through their legislatures or citizen initiative. It was introduced on June 7, 2018, by Senators Cory Gardner and Elizabeth Warren. A companion bill was introduced the same day in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Earl Blumenauer and David Joyce. The act would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 to exempt from federal enforcement individuals or corporations in states who are in compliance with U.S. state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia, or tribal law on cannabis, with certain additional provisions such as minimum ages. The banking provisions of the STATES Act have been reintroduced as the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019 in the 116th U.S. Congress by Ed Perlmutter in the House, and by Jeff Merkley in the Senate. As of September 18, 2019, the House bill had 206 cosponsors, and the Senate bill had 33 cosponsors.
South Dakota Constitutional Amendment A, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative, was a cannabis legalization initiative that appeared on the November 3, 2020 South Dakota general election ballot. Passing with 54% of the vote, the measure would have legalized recreational marijuana in South Dakota effective July 1, 2021. Additionally, Amendment A required the South Dakota State Legislature to establish a medical marijuana program and legal hemp sales by April 1, 2022.