Amendment 64's Christian Sederberg upbeat about being named to marijuana act's task force

Word that Governor John Hickenlooper had signed Amendment 64 into law necessarily overshadowed the announcement of members assigned to a task force that will guide implementation of the act. But Christian Sederberg, who'll represent the A64 campaign in the group, thinks the process is off to a positive start.

Sederberg didn't lobby for a position on the task force -- see the full list of members below -- but wasn't surprised that he was chosen as what he calls "a good representative of the campaign." As he notes, "we'd met with them right after the amendment's passage, and they understood my role. They knew I'd worked on medical marijuana regulatory and legal issues, but also with the campaign itself, as a surrogate and adviser."

Christian Sederberg.

The 24 members of the task force are largely drawn from elected and government officials, supplemented by advocates like Sederberg. Overall, he believes the makeup of the committee represents "a good cross-section of people who are and will be stakeholders in the process going forward. With regard to the representation of marijuana issues specifically, there is an industry representative (Meg Sanders), a marijuana consumers representative (Craig Small) and a campaign representative -- me. Obviously, all three of us have different specific interests moving ahead, but I look forward to working with them on these issues.

"As far as the rest of the panel is concerned, I'm sure we'll have more feedback as we have an opportunity to talk, but I look forward to working with all of them in implementing Amendment 64 in a way that honors the will of the voters and is good for Colorado."

The task force's first meeting is scheduled for noon on Monday, December 17. In advance of that sit-down, Sederberg says he's already met with the group's co-chairs -- Jack Finlaw, Hickenlooper's chief legal counsel, and Barbara Brohl, executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue -- "to discuss some important issues that we see moving forward. But I think the process will involve work groups. It sounds like there will be a number of them working on specific issues with the guidance of the task-force members themselves." In addition to the December 17 meeting, he expects "several meetings in January and February."

The tight scheduling makes sense, in his view. "We need to get something done quickly in order to meet the time frames in the amendment," he says.

As you know, Amendment 64 conflicts with federal drug policy -- and the Justice Department has not yet announced whether it will allow Colorado to shape its own marijuana destiny or intervene to block establishment of a retail system. But Sederberg sees no reason to wait until the feds get around to deciding on a course of action.

Continue for more of our interview with Amendment 64 task force member Christian Sederberg.