More than 500 people from 38 states packed a conference center just outside Denver on Wednesday for a crash course in "lessons learned" when it comes to marijuana legalization.
Of the 500, 40 claim Alaska as home. They include members of local governments from Fairbanks and Anchorage as well as members of state government who in less than six weeks will begin making marijuana rules.
The conference, "Marijuana Impact on Public Health and Safety in Colorado," is hosted by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. A contingent of Alaska officials on Tuesday also toured several marijuana businesses in the Denver area, coordinated by the law firm Vicente Sederberg, which specializes in marijuana legalization.
Partner and founding member Brian Vicente said the tour sites included marijuana grows and facilities that make edibles. The law firm often leads such tours, he said, in an effort to help people understand the effects of legalization.
"At the end of the day, Colorado's law and Alaska's law are very similar," Vicente said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "… I think perhaps it's a glimpse into the future for those Alaskans that were able to come down here and see how regulated marijuana works."
Vincente said he hoped the tour offered a counterpoint to the law enforcement conference. He was critical of organizers, noting law enforcement has consistently opposed marijuana legalization.
"I think there is absolutely a degree of bias (at the conference)," Vicente said. "We think its important regulators meet with a diverse set of stakeholders, and law enforcement is an important voice, but when you have people who have opposed and imprisoned people over marijuana, it's tough to say you'll get correct information out of that meeting."
The conference, which costs $325 per person, is open only to law enforcement personnel, regulators and policymakers. Media and the public aren't allowed in the sessions, which run through Friday. The conference sold out, with only a waiting list available Wednesday morning, according to Marco Vasquez, chief of police in Erie, Colorado, and marijuana director for the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. He is also the former chief of investigations for the Colorado Department of Revenue's medical marijuana enforcement division.
A spokesperson for the conference said the audience was limited because some of the information presented involves ongoing law enforcement actions and other information that cannot be shared with the public.
Vasquez, who helped plan the conference, said he and about a half-dozen other police chiefs approached the conference with a "lessons-learned approach." He said the goal is to share what Colorado officials have learned so far about marijuana legalization in the state.
"Whatever is going to happen with marijuana legalization, you don't necessarily want to be the first, but that's what happened with Colorado," Vasquez said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "Alaska can now really benefit from some of our lessons and do things better than we did, simply because they are able to learn from our experience."
Vasquez said he was proud of some of the things the state did right, but there were other areas he felt needed work. Better data collection, especially in public health and safety, would help, he said.
He also noted Colorado's Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana, had a built-in timeline he described as "strict." Alaska's Ballot Measure 2 also includes a strict timeline, giving the state nine months to craft rules after the ballot initiative goes into effect Feb. 24. Vasquez said that makes it difficult for government to respond, especially when there's limited funding. He suggested Alaska officials slow the timetable as much as possible, though he added marijuana supporters would undoubtedly disagree, saying they wanted it done "yesterday."
"There are a lot of moving parts (in the regulatory process) and if you're rushed and don't have adequate resources and don't have adequate funding you're creating a recipe for where you may fail," Vasquez said.