Colorado directs pot taxes to drug education

Colorado will save most of its marijuana tax money but spend some $23 million on school nurses and drug treatment and outreach. That’s under a bill approved by a panel of legislative budget-writers Tuesday.

The plan calls for delaying pot spending by a year. That means that instead of projecting tax collections, as most budgets are done, Colorado will spend only the marijuana tax dollars it has in hand. The delay is prompted by concerns that the new recreational marijuana industry could produce highly volatile tax collections for the first few years.

Instead of projecting pot taxes, Colorado lawmakers are poised to spend some $23 million already in hand. The largest awards go to programs for youth drug prevention. There’s also $5.8 million for a “statewide marijuana education campaign.”