Beginning in 2017, high school graduates in a Colorado county will be eligible for a college scholarship funded by marijuana taxes.
Last Tuesday, 60% of voters in Pueblo County passed a measure that will gradually implement a tax increase – 5%, in 2020 – on marijuana producers to fund college scholarships and other community projects.
The county is expected to raise $ 3.5 million with this tax increase, and at least half of the revenue will go to fund scholarships for Pueblo high school graduates so they can attend local universities.
Depending on income, the program is expected to expand in the coming years.
“The goal of the scholarship program is to make higher education a reality for families who cannot afford to send their children to school due to debt,” said Paris Carmichael, a spokesperson for Pueblo County.
According to Carmichael, this type of scholarship, funded by a marijuana tax, appears to be the first of its kind.
The challenge for the county will be “how well Pueblo can handle educating minors to stay away from recreational marijuana and fostering the growth and development of that industry [at the same time],” said Tyler Henson, the president of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.
The money not used by the university’s scholarship program will go to a long list of community projects including improving a playground at an elementary school, funding a study on expanding an Amtrak route to county and golf cart replacement at a local golf course.