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The Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corp.’s Board of Directors is considering a policy change this month that could prohibit marijuana businesses from joining the organization as members.
Chamber spokeswoman Nicole Jomantas confirmed the board will review and vote on a proposed change to the chamber’s bylaws that would “require business activities of members and prospective members to be lawful under federal, state and local laws, statutes and regulations.” The vote is expected to take place at the next regular board meeting on May 22.
If the board approves the proposed change without revisions next week, the new policy would immediately apply to all current and prospective chamber members, Jomantas said.
Though medicinal and recreational marijuana use has been permitted in Colorado since 2000 and 2012, respectively, it remains illegal under federal law. The proposed bylaws revision would disqualify the city’s 127 licensed medical and retail marijuana stores from chamber membership.
It seems the revision would also prohibit businesses providing psilocybin, also known as “magic mushrooms,” from obtaining chamber membership in the future. Colorado voters in 2022 passed an amendment to decriminalize some psychedelic substances like psilocybin and begin allowing them to be used at “natural healing” treatment centers, though they are still outlawed federally. Cities can’t ban the centers completely, but can place stricter limits on their locations than the state’s minimum standards.
“Our current bylaws do not directly address an instance where a business operates lawfully under state law but unlawfully under federal law,” and that is why the Board of Directors is considering the proposed change, Jomantas said. This policy has also not previously been included in past versions of chamber bylaws, she added.
Native Roots, which operates four medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries in Colorado Springs, appears to be the only chamber member that would be immediately affected by the potential policy change. Jomantas said the chamber is “not aware of other current members who may be affected by the proposed amendment.”
Native Roots joined the chamber in March, its spokeswoman Liz Zukowski said. As the company prepared to host a ribbon cutting in partnership with the chamber to celebrate its transition to retail marijuana sales, originally scheduled for the late afternoon on Friday, Native Roots learned about the possible bylaws change in a May 1 email from Craig Carle, the chamber’s vice president of membership.
“Given recent changes associated with the Trump administration, the Board of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC has been reviewing the organization’s compliance with federal laws … including, but not limited to, compliance with banking statutes and regulations,” Carle wrote in part in the email, which Native Roots shared with The Gazette. “With this pending bylaw change, the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC must put any ribbon cutting or other member service associated with Native Roots on hold until direction is provided by the board.”
Zukowski said the proposed bylaws change is disappointing for Native Roots, which has operated in the Colorado Springs community for the last decade.
“We’ve been a member of this community and have contributed to the local economy. Those things seem to align with the chamber’s mission. Now it feels like marijuana businesses are being singled out,” she said.
The proposed bylaws change is being considered about a month after retail cannabis sales began in Colorado Springs. Measures supporting retail cannabis sales failed at the ballot box in previous years, most recently in 2022. But voters in November’s general election approved a citizen-backed ballot question that authorized recreational sales and simultaneously defeated a competing, council-backed ballot question that would have banned recreational sales by city charter.
The City Council in January voted to implement rules preventing retail marijuana stores from operating within 1,000 feet of K-12 schools, child care centers or drug or alcohol treatment centers. This reversed a former ordinance the council passed only months before in September that would have prohibited marijuana businesses from operating within 1 mile of those centers, a rule that would have essentially banned them in city limits.
When the council attempted to place a question on the city’s April 1 municipal election ballot that would have asked voters to repeal Colorado Springs’ new recreational marijuana ordinance, an El Paso County District Court judge in February ordered the city to remove it.
Other local chambers of commerce do not appear to have similar membership policies.
Membership in the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is broadly open to Colorado businesses or individuals who support the chamber’s mission to promote and advocate for Hispanic and multicultural businesses, its President & CEO Joe Aldaz said.
“While the bylaws provide the Board of Directors with discretion to address conduct deemed detrimental to the best interests of the organization, there is no specific language addressing federal, state or local legal compliance as a condition for membership. As such, businesses that operate legally under Colorado law — but may not be federally compliant — are not categorically excluded from membership,” he said. “We recognize that each chamber of commerce determines its own membership policies based on its mission, values and community context.”
The Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corp. & Visitor Center’s bylaws also do not provide specific guidance on membership eligibility for state-compliant-but-not-federally-compliant businesses.
“Any person, association, corporation, partnership, limited liability company or governmental entity engaged in lawful business shall be eligible for membership in the corporation,” the Tri-Lakes Chamber’s bylaws state in part. One marijuana business, Alpine Essentials in Palmer Lake, is a member of the Tri-Lakes chamber, according to a membership list on its website.
Should the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce board approve the proposed bylaws changes, Native Roots and other similar businesses would no longer be eligible for membership. Membership fees would be refunded to Native Roots, Jomantas said. If federal law changes in the future, Native Roots could reapply for chamber membership.
Native Roots said it is still hosting a ribbon cutting Friday, though it will do so without collaboration from the chamber.
”}]] The Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corp.’s Board of Directors is considering a policy change this month that could prohibit marijuana businesses from joining the organization as members. Read More
