Most Colorado Border States Sitting Out Marijuana Lawsuit

Although Oklahoma and Nebraska attacked Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry last week in a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court, other nearby conservative states are more hesitant to jump on board.

The lawsuit contends that Colorado’s rec market has cost both Nebraska and Oklahoma significant capital in law enforcement resources, as consumers have been reportedly purchasing marijuana and then driving across state lines.

Most of the states sharing the biggest stretches of Colorado’s borders, however, have not joined the lawsuit (and all of those states, with the exception of New Mexico, have Republican attorneys general).

At least not yet.

When asked by Marijuana Business Daily whether their offices were considering joining the suit, spokespeople for the attorneys general in Kansas, Wyoming and Utah gave somewhat evasive answers, and declined to discuss their reasons for not joining the suit.

“We are aware of the lawsuit but have not joined it at this time,” Jennifer Rapp, public information officer for Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, said in an email. “Colorado’s decision to ‘legalize’ marijuana and the federal government’s subsequent decision to limit enforcement of federal law in Colorado have combined to cause harm in Kansas, and we are assessing our options.”

Rapp’s response was the most elaborate of the three. In an email, Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael simply stated, “We are watching the developments in that case. Otherwise, I have no comment.”

And Missy Larsen, spokeswoman for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, said in an email that her office “has no plans to join the suit at this time.”