Colorado’s implementation of legal marijuana policies has been a patchwork of regulation against a backdrop of diverse public opinion.

The recreational use of marijuana in Colorado has now been legal for more than three years, but cities, municipalities and counties have had the freedom to choose whether or not to legalize the drug or for it to remain banned. In new research using survey data and panel interviews with Coloradan local administrators, Tracy L. Johns finds that in their decision making these officials had to consider often divided local public opinion against the potential economic costs and benefits of legalization and the workload of enforcing marijuana policies.