The group in charge of creating rules for an industry that has never existed before — the recreational marijuana stores allowed under Colorado’s newly enacted Amendment 64 — gathered its breath Monday before getting to work.

The Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force did so in a space where there was little room to breathe.

Though the conference room at the Department of Revenue’s gaming division offices in Golden is the biggest the department has, the room for the task force’s first meeting was packed beyond capacity, with marijuana advocates, reporters and others standing against walls, sitting on the floor and crammed into the aisles to watch a meeting that mostly consisted of task force members identifying the issues they need to address.

By the end of the meeting, the 24 task force members had come up with dozens of topics — everything from basic licensing requirements for recreational marijuana businesses to questions of whether the state should regulate potency of marijuana — that require discussion.

The task force has until Feb. 28 to work it all out and issue a report.

“This is not going to be easy,” said Department of Revenue executive director Barbara Brohl, who is a co-chair of the task force. “We’re going to be tackling a lot of difficult subjects, sometimes with competing viewpoints. We’ll just have to work hard.”

To make the work less overwhelming, the task force will divide into groups to focus on issues in five areas: business regulations for marijuana stores; the types of local regulations cities and counties can impose; taxes and matters of civil law, including employment issues; matters of criminal law; and social issues related to marijuana legalization, including consumer safety.

The full task force’s next meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of Jan. 7.