COLORADO SPRINGS — Question 2D, which would ban recreational marijuana, failed outside of the margin of recount. The campaign against recreational cannabis said they won't be paying for a recount.
Once the election results are officially certified at the end of the month, retail marijuana will be legal in Colorado Springs for the first time.
On Thursday night, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office posted its final unofficial election results until the risk-limiting audit and canvas board certification.
2D ultimately failed by 2,735 votes, or 1.14%. The margin for an automatic recount in the state is 0.5%.
Below is a statement from the 2D campaign:
“We heard from voters confused by the presence of two competing measures on the ballot: 2D, to ban recreational marijuana sales, and 300, which pretended to restrict recreational marijuana sales but in fact legalized them. The proponents ran a clever campaign, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a future city council decides to ask the question again, on a ballot where there won’t be competing measures and therefore won’t be any confusion.”
The big debate now is Ballot Question 300, which said retail pot could be sold in medical dispensaries that apply as long as they're 1,000 feet from schools or daycares.
But earlier this year, Colorado Springs City Council preemptively passed a bill restricting recreational marijuana stores to a much larger one mile buffer zone from schools, daycares, and rehabilitation centers. Critics of the move called it a "de-facto ban" since it severely limits where retail cannabis can be sold before voters ever weighed in.
A spokesperson with the City of Colorado Springs said they're reviewing the two laws to determine if one takes precedence over the other. They don't have an answer for the time being and cautioned they might not have one for some time.
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