Legalization Proponent Says There Is Almost No Dispensary Opposition to Colorado's Legalization Initiative
On Monday I wrote a post about the medical marijuana industry's opposition to ballot Initiative 502 in California and Amendment 64 in Colorado, both of which would legalize pot. Mason Tvert, the co-director of Colorado's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, objected to the comparison.
The gist: There is no dispensary opposition to Amendment 64. The dispensary owner whose concerns I cited is an anomaly.
Tvert said I could publish his email, so I've done so below:
I caught your post re: medical marijuana providers and the initiatives in Colorado and Washington and just wanted to register a concern.
You mentioned that "medical marijuana dispensaries opposed to Amendment 64 are less organized." There isn't less organization; there's absolutely zero organization. You included one example of "opposition" and from just one dispensary owner, and he said he isn't even sure yet whether he actually opposes it. Pair this with the fact that about 200 medical marijuana providers *supported* the initiative by allowing petitions in their dispensaries during the petition drive and it really begs the question of why Colorado was included in this piece at all, if not to demonstrate the stark contrast with the situation in Washington.
We are finding that following the situation with Prop. 19 in 2010, some members of the media are jumping the gun in their speculation about dispensaries opposing the Colorado initiative. In doing so, they're fueling an inaccurate narrative. I just wanted to bring this to your attention and respectfully encourage you to keep it in mind if you revisit this angle on the issue in the future. Who knows -- maybe some actual opposition will emerge. But as of now we are very thankful that things are going as smoothly as they are in Colorado and would like people to be aware of it.
Readers, you are now aware. Many thanks to Tvert for the fact-check.
