Fewer than 2,000 people reside in the mountain town of Nederland, Colorado — located west of Boulder. Nonetheless, Tuesday’s ‘small town’ vote in favor of a local ordinance eliminating all criminal and civil penalties for the adult personal use of marijuana is no doubt representative of the rising tide of national popular opinion in favor of cannabis legalization.

For the record, Nederland is the third Colorado city in recent memory to vote to remove marijuana possession penalties — following Breckenridge in 2009 and Denver (2007 and 2005) — and it most certainly won’t be the last.

Nederland votes to remove penalties for marijuana

via Fox News

NEDERLAND, COLO. — Voters in the town of Nederland voted on Tuesday and approved a ballot measure that removed all local penalties for private adult marijuana possession, making the mountain town the third Colorado locality to legalize marijuana in the past five years.

Denver voters adopted a citizen-initiative to do so in November 2005, and voters in Breckenridge approved a similar measure in November 2009.

More than 54 percent of Nederland voters supported the measure in what Town Clerk Christi Icenogle said was a high turn-out election.

Voters also ousted incumbent Mayor Martin Cheshes, who had vocally opposed the measure and referred to it as “foolish,” replacing him with Trustee Sumaya Abu-Haidar.

Prior to the announcement of the vote, the Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett told The Daily Camera: “I’ll pay attention if it passes. Marijuana enforcement is a sensitive issue, and it’s important to gauge public sentiment.”

… Durango, which voted largely in support of the statewide initiative to legalize marijuana in 2006, will likely to vote on a similar local marijuana legalization initiative this November.

A recent poll of likely Colorado voters found that 50 percent now support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol.