Date: 08/28/2014

Final
Law Enforcement Issues

MARIJUANA SALES TAX REVENUES

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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11:48 AM -- Law Enforcement Issues

Marco Vasquez, Chief of Police for Erie, Colorado, John Jackson, Chief of Police for Greenwood Village and President of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), and Marc Fleecs, Commander of the Denver Police Department, came to the table to present to the committee. A marijuana position paper from the CACP was distributed to the committee (Attachment E). Chief Vasquez began by discussing the issues that law enforcement has encountered since the legalization of marijuana. He stated that law enforcement's primary concerns have been public safety and civil matters, people driving under the influence, youth use, legal and illegal marijuana distribution, and diversion of marijuana out of the state. He said that Colorado police have also raised concerns with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and have been working collaboratively with state agencies in their efforts. He stated that the law enforcement community does not yet have a good sense of the frequency of people driving under the influence of marijuana.

Attachment E.pdfAttachment E.pdf

11:57 AM

Chief Jackson discussed the Amendment 64 Task Force and the issues for law enforcement that have not yet been addressed within the state. He said that the legislature needs a way to address the civil liability that law enforcement officers could face when confiscating plants from what they deem to be illegal grow operations. He added that more advanced technology for the testing of marijuana intoxication is still needed within the state, and that current funding resources were not adequate to ensure robust public safety.

Chief Jackson directed the committee towards the CACP's position paper on marijuana within the state and discussed the differing needs for law enforcement funding. He also discussed the need for significant data collection efforts on a number of issues, such as the trafficking of marijuana into and out of the state.


12:12 PM

Marc Fleecs, Commander of the Denver Police Department, explained to the committee how his department had recently undertaken an investigation into the movement of marijuana into and out of the state via the United States Postal Service (USPS). He stated that it had confiscated over $250,000 worth of marijuana, which equates to roughly 85 pounds. He described how the training of officers to recognize individuals driving under the influence of marijuana had increased significantly since January 2014, as had his department's crime analysis work to understand the effects of marijuana on the local community. He discussed how efforts to measure the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels in marijuana products were underway, but that they are expensive, time consuming processes for their crime lab. He responded to questions on why the department needs to test confiscated materials and measure THC levels, how Denver is spending its 3.8 percent local special sales tax on law enforcement, the confiscation of materials from USPS and other mailing services, the assistance the state is receiving from the federal government to assess marijuana products, the increase in law enforcement's workload since the legalization of marijuana, and what the state can do to help with data collection efforts to better understand the scope of marijuana law enforcement needs.


12:28 PM

Chief Vasquez highlighted his concerns regarding the state's medical marijuana caregiver model, marijuana divergences from the black market, and the funding of DUI testing. He responded to questions on the prioritized needs identified by CACP and oral fluid testing devices. Commissioner Pace expressed his concerns about homegrow operations and the loss of tax revenue that could be resulting from people growing their own marijuana. He asked how law enforcement makes the determination of what constitutes a legitimate homegrow operations. Chief Jackson replied that homegrow operations are complicated and challenging for law enforcement to address. He cited an example of a homegrow operation where a caregiver presented papers for legally growing up to 75 plants.

The law enforcement representatives responded to questions on what would constitute sufficient funding for their needs, whether or not law enforcement has reached out to the Board of Medical Examiners to express concerns about certain doctors liberally prescribing medical marijuana, and data collection for understanding the scope of trafficking through the USPS and if this increased after Amendment 64 was passed.

Mr. Bommer expressed concerns about marijuana enforcement being a statewide responsibility and about whether there is adequate funding for local law enforcement beyond revenue from special sales taxes. Mr. Bommer asked what data local law enforcement thinks they need and if there was a dollar amount that the state can provide to help this happen. Chief Vasquez cited the data collection efforts of Kevin Wong to help highlight the extent of the data collection gaps and needs. He stated that there needs to be a way to funnel local law enforcement data collection into a statewide system and that they are currently working to determine what the costs of such data collection efforts will be.


12:50 PM

Chief Jackson told the committee that law enforcement has created a comprehensive report to detail what funding and technology they need to properly address marijuana enforcement. The panel responded to questions on the increase in marijuana trafficking since legalization, whether the state should engage border states to assess the impacts of legalization, and whether the focus should be on the federal government and reclassifying marijuana. The committee discussed the importance of complying with federal banking laws. The panel responded to questions on safety and crime rate reduction.


01:00 PM

Representative Pabon discussed the importance of data collection in driving decisions about funding of law enforcement activities within the state. He said that there are valid concerns about the growth of the black market, diversion to out of state markets, but that we cannot currently quantify the extent of this problem because of a lack of data.