Colorado Officials Ask Anti-Cannabis Ads in Arizona to Stop Spreading Misinformation
Colorado officials have sent a letter urging the leaders of the anti-proposition 205 movement in Arizona to stop spreading misinformation about cannabis tax revenue and teen use in Colorado. Proposition 205 would legalize recreational cannabis in Arizona.
According to the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol group, Senator Pat Steadman and Representatives Jonathan Singer and Millie Hamner of Colorado sent an email to the officers of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.
“We respectfully request that you stop airing or otherwise publishing campaign ads that contradict these facts. We also trust they will be reflected in any of your future communications to Arizona voters regarding Colorado’s experience with regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use,” the letter read.
The ads claim that Colorado schools didn’t receive the millions of dollars promised and that it was spent by politicians on regulation. When in actuality, $138 million went to schools within the state, including $115 million that was used towards construction and upgrading of the state’s public school system. Also according to the letter, less than 10 percent of tax revenue was spent on regulation.
“As members of the Colorado Legislature who played a central role in the budgeting and appropriation of marijuana tax revenues, we feel it is our duty to set the record straight so that voters in both [Arizona and Colorado] have accurate information about this subject,” Hamner wrote in the email. Hamner is chair of the Colorado Joint Budget Committee and vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
In a statement J.P. Holyoak , chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which supports Proposition 205, applauded the letter.
“We applaud these Colorado officials for bringing the facts to light and join them in calling on our opponents to stop airing such overtly dishonest ads. The facts are clear. Regulating and taxing marijuana is raising tens of millions of dollars per year for schools in Colorado, and Prop. 205 will do the same for schools in Arizona.”
You can read the full letter here.
