DENVER (AP) -- Marijuana taxes could save the day for an endangered alcohol-treatment program in Pueblo threatened by state budget cuts.
A bill cleared for a House debate Friday sends $1 million worth of sales taxes collected from medical marijuana sales to the Circle Program at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. That program stands to lose $1 million -- two-thirds of its funding -- under the budget proposed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 7-6 Friday to move the bill to the full House for debate next week.
The marijuana bill also extends a moratorium on new marijuana dispensaries by a year, to the summer of 2012. It also relaxes prohibitions on new residents working in dispensaries and makes other changes to how the business is regulated.
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