El Paso County commissioners formally oppose recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs, Palmer Lake

Oct. 25—The Board of El Paso County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously passed a symbolic resolution formally opposing a handful of initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot seeking the legalization of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs and Palmer Lake.

"The marijuana being sold in Colorado today is not the marijuana of the 1960s," Commission Chairman Stan VanderWerf said before calling its legalization in Colorado "an unmitigated disaster."

"So why in the world would we now vote to legalize recreational marijuana?" he asked.

If voters in Colorado Springs approve Ballot Question 300, it would allow the 114 existing medical marijuana shops in the city to sell marijuana for recreational use. Another question asks voters to approve a special 5% sales tax on retail marijuana to fund public safety, veterans services and mental health programs.

Similarly in Palmer Lake, voter-approval of Question 2D would allow the town's two existing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational pot. Town code caps the number of marijuana storefronts at two.

Commissioners on Tuesday said legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs and Palmer Lake would increase crime and exacerbate mental health concerns the community already faces, would make it more readily available to youth, and would impact the county's ability to provide criminal justice, social and human services to residents because of the large combined size of the jurisdictions involved.

"The people who are supporting this will say there's no proof of causation," Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez said. "Correlation should scare enough people."

El Paso County saw a 22% increase in drug-related accidental deaths in 2021, according to the annual report El Paso County Medical Examiner and Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly presented earlier Tuesday. Last year there were 385 accidental deaths in El Paso County, with 59% of them — 227 — caused by drugs, Kelly said.

Methamphetamine caused the largest number of those accidental drug-related deaths in 2021, with 56, and fentanyl the second-largest with 45, according to the report. Coroner's data also show 38% of all drug-related deaths in El Paso County in 2021 had tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, metabolites present and 23% of all deaths had marijuana metabolites present at autopsy — a 1% increase over 2020 numbers, Kelly said. THC is the main psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana.

Last year 41% of the 1,444 autopsies Kelly's office performed showed drugs present at the time of death and in 22% of cases THC was present at the time of death, coroner's data show.

Proponents have argued allowing recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs and Palmer Lake would bring in more sales tax revenue to pay for services like police and fire, roads infrastructure and mental health and veterans programs.

But Gonzalez said it costs local governments more in criminal justice and health care costs associated with recreational marijuana users than the revenue legalizing it brings in. He added that drug cartels in particular use "the legal aspect of this to mask other illicit drug activities, or other illicit activities" such as human trafficking.

Commissioners also on Tuesday unanimously approved a symbolic resolution formally opposing the statewide Proposition 122 ballot initiative that wants to redefine certain psychedelic plants and fungi, commonly known as "psychedelic mushrooms," as natural medicine; decriminalize personal use, possession, growth and transport of such plants and fungi for people aged 21 and older; and create the Regulated Natural Medicine Access Program for licensed operators to administer "natural medicine services."

If voters approve it, Prop 122 would permit unregulated use, possession and growth of these certain psychedelic plants and fungi and "fails to empower local governments to prohibit such facilities within their communities and thus severely undermines local control," the resolution states.

Commissioners also argued the psychedelic substances could cause critical heart conditions, the effects of which vary widely from person-to-person based on the substance used, the dosage, how frequently a person uses it and the user's individual health.

Proponents have claimed the contrary, saying the measure would help veterans and others suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as well as people living with depression, anxiety, trauma or other mental health-related challenges by providing safe access to natural medicines that could be effective when other treatments were not.

"Advocates are declaring it will help with mental health but I, quite frankly, think that's dishonest and that this is completely the other side," Commissioner Carrie Geitner said.

Voters will decide each ballot question in the upcoming election on Nov. 8.