Voters should ask themselves two simple questions before the November election, which will determine whether to legalize recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs. Questions:

1. Is Denver better off than 10 years ago?

2. Is Colorado Springs better than 10 years ago?

The answer to “1” is a definitive “no.” Denver has become a national symbol of big city crime. Mostly because of crimes in Denver, Colorado leads the country in automobile thefts. It has the second-highest rate of rape among the country’s large cities. Deadly shootings, most involving drugs, have become a near-daily event — with seven shootings in seven days last week.

Denver, despite some of the country’s strictest gun-control laws, has seen an 80% increase in gun homicides this year over a three-year average. Growing homeless encampments are ubiquitous.

Denver’s Union Station has become what an RTD union leader called a “hellhole” of drugs and crime. Drug addicts living on streets have become such an issue for the mass transit system it inspired a disturbing 3,000-word news report in The Washington Post.

Bizarre and brutal crimes have become so common the public seems jaded. Consider the relative lack of outrage over the brutal murder of 14-year-old Josiaz “Jojo” Aragon in the middle of the afternoon near a city recreation center this month.

In the past year, Denver’s U.S. News & World Report ranking among best major cities dropped from 14 to 55.

The pervasive influence of marijuana is a significant factor, said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, regarding Denver’s fall from grace in the rankings. Colorado Springs ranks as the country’s second-best city in which to live and the city most Americans would move to if given unlimited options.

Once a great among cities, Denver suffers from an infestation of drugs and all that goes with them. It began with recreational marijuana and the proliferation of hundreds of stores that sell it — a development that made Denver appear drug friendly to dealers and users around the globe.

The answer to “2” is a definitive “yes.” Over the past decade, Colorado Springs has emerged as Colorado’s safe, healthy, family friendly, business-friendly city. One must travel outside the city’s sprawling 196 square miles to buy marijuana without paying for a medical license. The city’s disciplined stand against recreational sales and use of the drug means we don’t have profiteers promoting the drug to anyone who walks by on a sidewalk.

Since statewide legalization of recreational pot in 2012 — which Colorado Springs declined from the start — Colorado has seen an increase in THC-related traffic fatalities and overall traffic fatalities.

“Any legal or illegal medication/drug that impacts neuro-cognitive and neuro-motor skills can increase the risk of traffic events and higher rates of traffic events are likely if more drivers are driving under the influence of cannabis in combination with alcohol and/or other drugs,” said Julian Santaella-Tenorio, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, after a 2020 JAMA Internal Medicine report linked Colorado’s increasing traffic fatalities to legalization.

Though one cannot prove a direct connection between legalization of recreational drugs and Denver’s decline in culture and public safety, intelligent minds can draw reasonable conclusions on a basis of correlation.

Colorado Springs residents should choose against any potential of following Denver’s path. The Springs, not Denver, has become a model for municipal leaders throughout the country.

The city is growing, building, and more successful by the day. Don’t risk making the Springs a second-rate imitation of Denver — a wannabe with less of the glitz and all of the problems. Vote no on legalizing pot for recreation.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board