State lawmakers in Colorado have launched the Colorado Cannabis Caucus – the first of its kind for any state Legislature, according to a report from Westword. The state caucus comes more than a year after federal lawmakers from states with legal cannabis access formed the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
So far, only Democrats have indicated they would attend the first meeting, including Reps. Dan Pabon, Leslie Herod, Matt Gray, Chris Hansen, Jonathan Singer, and Dylan Roberts.
The meeting is organized by NORML, whose Denver-based outreach director Kevin Mahmalji indicated the organization had been looking at it “for quite some time.”
“We’ve had several internal discussions about a Colorado cannabis caucus over the last year or two. But during Denver NORML’s lobby day last year, I ran into Rep. Leslie Herod and she latched onto the idea of facilitating an informal space for colleagues who maybe weren’t supportive of marijuana to learn about it and brush up on policy – something that’s not necessarily formatted like a debate on the floor of the House, which can get pretty hostile.” – Mahmalji to Westword
Mahmalji hopes the caucus will be able to bring some Republicans on board – “to balance it out” – in order to advance more cannabis-related legislation.