Repeal of Amendment 64 (recriminalize mj) failed in Colorado

[RainDog]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/amendment-64-repeal-fails_n_3229337.html

A last-minute effort by some Colorado lawmakers to repeal Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use in the state last November, was abandoned late Monday night, dying on the calendar.

Sponsored by 24 senators including Senate President John Morse, Senate Concurrent Resolution 13-003 would have put two measures on the 2013 state ballot for voters to decide on regarding legal marijuana. First, voters would decide on the 15 percent excise tax and the 10 percent special sales tax rates, as outlined in House Bill 1318. If that measure failed, the second measure would ask voters if they wanted to halt recreational marijuana sales in the state.

The Denver Post's John Ingold reported that the resolution was introduced around 6 p.m., cleared a Senate committee less than an hour after it was introduced, but ultimately faced a midnight deadline for approval, a filibuster threat and nearly certain defeat in the House so Morse backed off of the plan around 9:30 p.m., Monday evening.

Morse says the repeal effort was just an attempt to get the attention of the marijuana industry and to encourage industry support for the marijuana taxes which will still be voted on in November. "Here is the inherent problem: The marijuana industry has no incentive to support a tax increase it promised voters," Morse said, The Associated Press reports.