The Colorado Springs City Council put the final administrative stamp of approval Wednesday on recreational marijuana questions that will head to the voters in November amid a downturn in the cannabis market statewide and locally.

The board voted 8 to 2 to forward a citizen-backed question to voters that, if approved, would allow the existing 115 medical marijuana shops to transition to selling recreational marijuana next year. The council also forwarded a question that would add a 5% local tax to recreational marijuana sales. The tax could provide $5.6 million in 2023 for post-traumatic stress disorder services for veterans, mental health services for the whole community and public safety services.

The council is required by law to either adopt ballot measures that have gathered sufficient petitions or to refer them to the voters. If the measure includes a tax increase, it must be referred to the voters, city Attorney Wynetta Massey said.

Councilmen Randy Helms and Mike O’malley voted against forwarding the question to the voters. Helms said he ran on a platform of not supporting recreational marijuana sales in part because marijuana is not federally legal, and airmen and soldiers in the community could be kicked out of the military for partaking.

Opposing recreational marijuana is part of setting a good example for them in our community, he said, adding that he did not believe the sales tax revenue would cover the cost of enforcement if the sales were allowed.

However, he said he would support the voters’ decision.

“The people will get to speak,” he said.

Other councilmembers also seemed interested in their options to oppose the measure, asking Massey whether opposition was possible.

“There is basically no choice under the statute . ... I don’t even want to speculate about what could happen,” Massey said.

Proponents of the measure have seemed confident that voters will support the question and funded the collection of tens of thousands of signatures needed to place questions on the ballot.

Democrats, Republicans and independents in Colorado have had an opportunity to see legalization play out and that will be positive for the campaign, said Truman Bradley, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.

“I am confident that this measure will pass,” he said.

He said the 5% special local tax is a good compromise and won’t hurt the heavily taxed industry. Recreational marijuana also would be subject to a 15% special state sales tax and 8.2% in existing sales taxes.

The highly successful Manitou Springs recreational marijuana stores also demonstrate the local demand, he said.

Alan Delwiche promoted recreational marijuana sales in Manitou Springs in 2014 and said since legalization there, life in town has remained largely the same.

“There was a lot of fear and nervousness about it . ... All of those fears have proven to be just fears,” he said.

The failure of the ballot question in January to add a store in Manitou could have been related to the specifics of the question that would have allowed one property owner to open a store rather than opening it up more competitively, he said.

He expects marijuana will be legalized nationally in the coming years, and some serious legislation has been introduced.

The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would allow states to decide how to regulate marijuana, a movement that is well underway. Nineteen states have legalized recreational marijuana sales. At least six more are asking voters to legalize in November, according to Politico.

As interest is rising nationally, in Colorado sales are going through a post-pandemic slump. State data showed medical marijuana sales in June dropped 44% compared to the same month last year from $19.2 million in sales to $34.5 million in 2021. Recreational sales dropped 17% from $152.7 million last June to $127.2 million to June 2022, according to a Marijuana Industry Group press release.

Colorado Springs medical marijuana sales have also dropped from $136 million in 2020 to $117 million in 2021.

However, medical marijuana sales spiked during the pandemic up from $96 million in 2019. The stores in town serve 23,912 registered medical marijuana card holders, city data shows.

This year, four medical marijuana licenses have been surrendered to the city for various reasons and cannot be reactivated, City Clerk Sarah Johnson said.