June 03, 2015 03:34 PM UTC

Like Legal Marijuana? 2016 Coming Fast

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post’s Joey Bunch caught up with Michael Elliott, the executive director of Colorado’s Marijuana Industry Group–who has blunt advice (pun intended) for fans of Colorado’s legalized marijuana sales who want to protect their newfound rights in next year’s presidential elections:

Michael Elliott, executive director of Colorado’s Marijuana Industry Group, reflected “On The Spot,” on DPTV, said who is in the White House after the 2016 elections could go a long way to determining the future of pot in Colorado and other states that have legalized it. [Pols emphasis] The Obama administration has been hands-off in enforcing federal laws as long as those states show they’re regulating it responsibly.

Elliott noted, however, how pot has moved from the shadows to a mainstream political and business entity in Colorado.

The legislature passed 13 pot bills this past session, including one to renew the state’s regulations on medical marijuana in a “sunset review” process that reauthorized the rules that were first passed five years ago. The important bill got final approval on the last day of the session…

“It fixed some problems and passed nearly unanimously,” Elliott said. “Almost every Democrat, almost every Republican voted in favor of it, and five years ago, when the original thing passed, it was much more controversial. It was much closer votes. We had Democrats and Republicans that were against it.”

Republican Gov. Chris Christie has gone the farthest in terms of public pronouncements on legalized marijuana, flatly promising to “crack down and not permit” marijuana legalization if elected president–statements that were met with bipartisan groans here in Colorado. We haven’t heard from other filed or potential candidates on this issue, but with a number of states expected to vote on marijuana legalization in 2016, we expect the question will loom large.

Colorado’s so-far very successful experiment with legalized marijuana has changed minds in both parties about the efficacy of legalization locally, but it’s an open question whether presidential candidates are tuned in to that long-term shift in perceptions. If they are, it will go a long way toward negating this issue as an electoral point of contrast.

If not, they could end up embarrassing themselves, and even hobbling their presidential prospects, like Christie arguably did by coming out so brusquely against the voters of Colorado. Either way, we’d say the era of “Reefer Madness” is rapidly ending in American politics–and politicos who don’t get that risk their own marginalization.