If Question 200 passes: What a ban on retail pot could look like in Pueblo

A key provision of Colorado’s Amendment 64, which allowed for the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state, is the element of local control.

Municipalities can “opt-out” of this industry, and Colorado’s Pueblo County could do just that with the passage of Question 200 — a measure that would ban the retail, cultivation and production of marijuana.

Such a move could be devastating for a new industry and economy booster, says Jim Parco, spokesman for the Vote No on 200 campaign.

“It’s 1,300 jobs,” Parco says. “This is what keeps me awake at night.”

Parco and Max Montrose, president of Trichome Institute, a Colorado-based provider of cannabis-related education and curriculum, stop by The Cannabist Show to discuss the 2016 ballot measure with Cannabist editor-in-chief Ricardo Baca.

Montrose says the efforts to rid the southern Colorado county of the marijuana industry is reminiscent of Prohibition-era “Reefer Madness” talking points on the ills of cannabis.

“We have Pueblo as an opportunity to be the model for what cannabis growing should be everywhere else in the country,” he says. “I think it’s ridiculous that we’re forced to grow cannabis indoors and our carbon footprint is megalithic and doesn’t need to be.”

Watch the full episode of The Cannabist Show