Colorado’s top prosecutors and police officials want a two-year pause on new marijuana laws to give officers time to catch up.
In a letter dated last week and sent to lawmakers, leaders of the state’s three main groups of law enforcement officials said local police, “cannot keep up with the quantity and speed of constantly-changing marijuana law.”
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There have been 81 marijuana-related bills introduced in the Colorado legislature in just the past four years, according to the letter.
“[R]egulation seems to change on a daily basis and this process must be slowed down,” the groups wrote.
The solution, the groups propose, is a two-year moratorium on, “any changes to current law with regard to marijuana legalization, unless a strong public safety nexus is established.”
The letter was sent by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council. It was written, specifically, to help set the agenda for an off-season legislative committee conducting a cost-benefit analysis of marijuana legalization.
In addition to the moratorium, the letter asks lawmakers to fund two law enforcement work groups that the organizations formed to keep track of legalization’s impacts and to train police officers. The letter also asks the legislature to create a state marijuana liaison to law enforcement.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or @johningold
