Legal Marijuana in Colorado

All eyes are on Colorado to gauge the impact of the country’s first-ever law allowing personal use of marijuana for recreational purposes. Ripple was hired by Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) to ensure that the positive impacts of the law get into the news. Our first project was organizing a press teleconference prior to July 1^st, which marked six months since the new law went into effect. We worked with DPA to draft a six-month status report, and then gathered a local legislator and top legal, criminal justice and drug policy experts to talk about the economic impacts of the law ($10.8 million in taxes in the first four months); impact on crime (5.2% decrease in violent crime since last year at this time in Denver); and pending legislation to increase safety around marijuana concentrates (“edibles”). More than 20 reporters participated in the call, including: Associated Press, CNN, NPR, Agence France Presse, CBS Radio, Denver’s ABC and CBS TV stations and the Denver Post. Stories ran in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, ABC TV, Take Part, Colorado Springs Independent, Detroit Metro Times and more. DPA also created a Facebook Graphic that has been shared over 93,000 times and seen by over six million people.