It’s two and half weeks into the Colorado legislative session and lawmakers have introduced at least six bills concerning the state’s legal weed, which was legalized in the state five years ago.

It’s a sign of how fast legalization tends to happen and how long it takes to work out the commercial and regulatory details – and that was before Alabama’s anti-pot Sen. Jeff Sessions was nominated for U.S. attorney general.

Bills this year will draw public attention and make headlines, as in years past, but mostly they’ve become a routine part of life under the Gold Dome.

Bills introduced so far this year include HB 1034 on licensing issues; HB 1082 on marijuana taxes and school funding; SB 15 on marijuana advertising; SB 17 on Marijuana as stress disorder drug; SB 25 on marijuana education; and SB 63 on marijuana club licensing.

In other words, Colorado is still plenty busy carving a path for the crowd of states embracing legalization and expanding legal marijuana country coast to coast.

This year, voters in, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada legalized recreational marijuana, and officials – with the help of many lawyers – in Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota will begin erecting medical marijuana systems.

Stateline’s Sarah Breitenbach reports that, “already this year, at least 12 states are considering legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana. Another seven are looking at measures to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana and nearly 30 ballot measures related to marijuana are being considered for elections in 2017 and 2018.”

Breitenbach Friday posted a sharp round up of the kind of hurdles states at all stages of the process face.

Her piece included these insights, which include comment from former state Speaker of the House Frank McNulty:

No state has legalized recreational marijuana through its legislature. Even in Vermont’s General Assembly, which has already legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot, a recreational marijuana bill failed to pass last year.

But lawmakers in Colorado and Washington who have toiled over marijuana policy for almost five years say legislation, rather than the ballot box, is the way to go.

Building and regulating a new industry can be costly. For example, in 2014 Oregon estimated that it would cost almost $4 million annually to legalize marijuana – though states project tax revenue could far outweigh costs.

Frank McNulty, a former Republican state representative from Denver, opposes legalization. But he advises other states to work with the marijuana industry to establish a regulatory framework if a ballot initiative appears likely to pass.

In Colorado, the 2012 recreational marijuana ballot initiative took effect 30 days after the election. That left lawmakers without enough time to work on regulations, McNulty said. And, he said, poorly aligned medical and recreational systems have fed into black market sales.

Three years after marijuana could first be bought and sold in Colorado, officials are still working through regulatory changes. This year already, bills have been introduced that would create a licensing system for marijuana smoking clubs, prohibit advertising marijuana without a sales license, and allow the use of medical marijuana for stress disorders.

– john@coloradostatesman.com