Efforts in place to legalize retail marijuana in Lamar despite court order

LAMAR, Colo. (KRDO) -- The battle over retail marijuana continues in Lamar where voters said yes, but the courts say no. Following a court decision to invalidate the Nov. 2021 election where Lamar voters approved retail marijuana sales in their city, 13 Investigates learned that an effort is underway to get a new question on retail marijuana on the upcoming November ballots for 2022.

On March 24, a district judge ruled that the election results were invalid because the city of Lamar broke its charter.

In his ruling last week, a district court judge stated that Ballot Questions 2A and 2B in the city of Lamar, which deal with the taxation and legality of recreational cannabis, were void following a complaint filed by a voter after the November 2021 election.

According to the election results, both 2A and 2B passed with roughly 55% of the vote in Lamar.

In his ruling, the judge says he failed to obtain enough signatures for the Lamar City Council to consider placing the ballot question.

Court records obtained by 13 Investigates state that within Lamar’s city charter, a petitioner must gather enough signatures to meet 15% of the number of voters from the last election cycle. The petition submitted by the Pueblo group SoCo Rocks only obtained 5%. On top of this, the judge said the question on the petition did not line up with the questions on the Nov 2021 ballot.

On Monday, Lamar City Council members had the choice to place a new question on retail marijuana on the ballot for November 2022 without gathering signatures for a petition, but they chose not to.

“It seemed like a representation of this community that showed up tonight has not wanted us to put it on the ballot ourselves but to let the community go that route," said Manuel Tamez, a Lamar council member, during Monday night's council meeting.

“Although your elected officials do not listen to you or did not listen to you in this situation, we heard you loud and clear,” said Terry Sanchez, the General Manager for The Herbal Garden in Pueblo.

Sanchez helped collect signatures for the original petition in 2021, and he plans to do it again.

“We are not going to stop," Sanchez said. "There are many that are in favor, and we are going to work with them to get the appropriate number of signatures on the petition and get it on the ballot.”