Colorado's Rollout of Legal Marijuana Is Succeeding: A Report on the State's Implementation of Legalization

Abstract

In November 2012, Colorado voters approved Amendment Sixty-Four to the state constitution, allowing for cultivation, processing, and sale of recreational marijuana.The move was unprecedented by any state, national, or international standards, and in the months following, the state began the tremendous task of implementing the voters' will.This required statutory, regulatory, and other changes that would construct and govern a market for cannabis products.With no true model to guide Colorado, the state ultimately moved forward.This Article describes the challenges the state faced in this effort, how it overcame those challenges, and what level of success Colorado has had in dealing with legal marijuana.In the process, this Article walks through the broad framework of the regulatory state and explains why and to what effect the state has achieved its goals.Overall, Colorado has been broadly successful in implementing Amendment Sixty-Four and bringing legal marijuana to the Centennial State.However, the process has not been perfect, as state regulators and officials still face challenges in this new area of public policy.