Amendment 64 gave state legislators just a few months in 2013 to put together regulations for recreational marijuana businesses.

Now, it looks as though a wait for recommendations from a state task force will give lawmakers an even shorter timeline.

Many lawmakers — including ones from Colorado Springs — will be waiting until the end of February, for recommendations from the task force, before introducing legislation. The 24-member task force, established by Gov. John Hickenlooper in December, is looking at potential rules and impacts of recreational marijuana sales, on everything from law enforcement to retail practices.

“The problem with Amendment 64 is that for every answer, there are 10 more questions,” said Rep.-elect Dan Nordberg, R-Colorado Springs, a member of the task force. “We’ve been assigned to do five meetings where we’ve been asked to create an entirely new regulatory framework. That’s never been done before.”

Amendment 64 legalized recreational marijuana sales, and adults over 21 can now possess an ounce of pot and grow six marijuana plants.

Personal possession and growing are already legal, but the state must write laws governing retail sales before businesses can plunge in. And they don’t have a lot of time — the amendment requries the state Department of Revenue to begin accepting and processing applications for business licenses for would-be marijuana dealers by Oct. 1 and to issue business licenses by Jan. 1, 2014.

The Amendment 64 task force has a Feb. 28 deadline to present recommendations to the General Assembly. Though many El Paso County legislators say they’re not planning on running bills related to recreational marijuana, there are plenty of concerns circulating at the Capitol.

Nordberg fears that Amendment 64 could discourage the Department of Defense from increasing or continuing its military presence in Colorado Springs, if commanders see an uptick in drug use by troops.

“I don’t want alarms to go off, but we just don’t know the impacts there,” Nordberg said. “Given the dynamics of our community, it could be a big issue.”

Public safety is also a primary concern of many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

To that end, House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, said he’ll push a bill to establish a marijuana equivalent to the 0.08 blood alcohol limit for drunk drivers. The measure would create a THC blood-content standard for motorists suspected of driving while high. THC is short for tetrahydrocannabinol, the psycho-active ingredient in marijuana.

The same bill was supported in the 2012 session by the new Democratic Senate President, John Morse, of Colorado Springs, but failed. Another version was voted down in 2011.

As of Thursday,  Waller’s bill was in the drafting stage, so several details have yet to be worked out. He predicted it would pass, though, because it will let those charged with marijuana DUI’s to present evidence in their defense, instead of being automatically guilty based on their blood content.

Incoming Speaker of the House Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said Thursday that some form of a blood-content standard DUI bill like Waller’s will likely pass, but it may not be Waller’s version. The problem, said Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, is accurately determining if a driver is impaired, because some marijuana chemicals can remain in a person’s blood long after they’ve sobered up.

“If the test can’t distinguish that, then we’re punishing people for exercising their constitutionally-protected right to have medicinal marijuana,” said Lee.

Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, wants to restrict marijuana sales as much as legally possible.

“Colorado has made itself the number one competitor of the Mexican drug cartels, and that’s a sad state of affairs,” Gardner said.

Gardner’s top priority is ensuring that local governments retain their right to regulate marijuana businesses. Though Amendment 64 provides that local governments can ban and regulate marijuana stores and cultivation within their jurisdiction, Gardner worries that some legislators may try to revoke that right.

The governor’s task force will also grapple with an excise tax that the amendment requires the Legislature to impose on pot sales. The Legislature isn’t legally allowed to enact any new tax without a vote of the people. So the Legislature would have to put a measure on the November ballot.

“I believe we don’t have to put it on there if we don’t want to. It’s this weird constitutional conflict of, ‘Can the Constitution require legislators to refer something to the ballot?’ I don’t think you can,” the speaker said.

The tax would collect up to $40 million annually for school construction.

—Contact John Schroyer: 476-4825Twitter: @JohnschroyerFacebook: Gazette John Schroyer

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