Hydrolife Magazine October/November 2016 (USA Edition)

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Colorado State University will be
studying a wide range of economic
and health effects of the state’s legal
cannabis industry thanks to recently
granted funds from the county and
state. CSU at Pueblo will be receiving
$270,000 from the county of Pueblo,
funding which was obtained through
the taxation of marijuana sales in the
county. The county granted the university
$220,000 for medical marijuana
research and another $50,000 to conduct
four separate, economic impact studies.
With near unanimous support from
the state’s lawmakers both Democrat
and Republican, Colorado’s Governor
Hickenlooper signed Senate bill 191 allocating
another $900,000 from the state’s
marijuana tax fund to go to CSU Pueblo
for further impact studies and research
on marijuana. This infusion of research
funds positions CSU Pueblo as the first
regional four-year university in the country
to conduct such a study.
On the economic side, the study aims
to see how the legalization of marijuana
in Colorado is affecting local economies
for better or worse. The impact studies
will not only look at the direct economic
benefits as in those to storefront
dispensaries, but in particular it will
look at how revenues raised through
job creation and the sales of cannabis
compare to the expenditures required in
the regulation of those sales. It will also
likely look at the cost-benefit analysis
of legalization versus the costs involved
with law enforcement and prosecution
if it had remained an illegal substance.
The study is also meant to look at
the impact of resource usage in the
production of marijuana including
water and energy usages.
Another stated objective of the study
is to determine appropriate agricultural
buffer zones for the production of marijuana
crops. Pueblo County
is interested in learning how
far apart cannabis crops with
low levels of THC, such as
hemp, need to be from crops
with high levels of THC to
avoid cross-contamination.
“This is a very welcome step
by the DEA, which will only
increase the amount of careful,
rigorous research that universities
undertake with regard to cannabis,” Rick
Kreminski, provost and executive vice
president at CSU-Pueblo, told The Pueblo
Chieftain in August.
Further studies of hemp production
have been proposed Kreminski to look
at the remedial affect to toxic soils that
cannabis could provide. Kreminski has
stated that hemp could potentially help
“
ON THE ECONOMIC SIDE, THE
STUDY AIMS TO SEE HOW THE
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
IN COLORADO IS AFFECTING
LOCAL ECONOMIES FOR
BETTER OR WORSE.
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