On Wednesday, GOP candidates will take the stage in Colorado, which has embraced legal cannabis. But several of those presidential hopefuls have marijuana industry worried: ‘I go to work every day and violate federal law’

Since Colorado became the first state in the nation to allow sale of recreational marijuana, Tim Cullen has opened four dispensaries in the Denver area.

He employs almost 100 people. He has a three-year-old son. And he is all too aware that, unless Congress were to change federal law, the next president could take his livelihood and his freedom away.

“I go to work every day and violate federal law,” Cullen, 43, told the Guardian. “Worries about the next administration is always something in the back of my head.”

On Wednesday, several members of the Republican party who favor enforcing federal law against people like Cullen will make the case in his state that they should be the next president, during the GOP debate in nearby Boulder.

Though pot remains an illicit substance under federal law, the Obama administration has largely taken a hands-off approach to states that have opted to legalize marijuana. Four states – Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska – as well as Washington DC currently allow recreational cannabis.

But whether the next president should continue to let states do as they please with marijuana laws is a point of contention among Republican presidential aspirants, and one that will probably come up again during Wednesday’s business-themed debate hosted by CNBC.

There have been two general schools of thought within the Republican Party on marijuana legalization in states. The first is that Republicans have traditionally supported taking power away from the federal government and devolving it to states. Therefore, when the people of Colorado democratically vote to experiment with legalizing marijuana, the federal government ought not come in and shut it down.

A number of Republicans, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, Texas senator Ted Cruz, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, have endorsed this states’ rights approach.

Cruz, who never has been and never will be mistaken for a liberal, summed up why he supports allowing states to legalize cannabis during a speech earlier this year: “If the citizens of Colorado decide they want to go down that road, that’s their prerogative.” Calling it a “great embodiment” of states acting as “laboratories of democracy”, he continued: “I don’t agree with it, but that’s their right.”

Paul, meanwhile, has gone even further in his support, raising money from the marijuana industry during a Denver campaign stop in June.

But other Republicans vying for the presidency, including Florida senator Marco Rubio, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, have argued that maintaining law and order trumps states’ rights when it comes to marijuana. Christie in particular prompted controversy this summer when, during a New Hampshire town hall, he declared: “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it. As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.”

None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls support cracking down on recreational marijuana states like Colorado.

Among Coloradans working in the cannabis industry, there’s a mix of emotions about the uncertainty of their business heading into the next presidential administration.

“Honestly, I’m a little scared,” Alex Johnson, a 22-year-old budtender in Denver, said. Johnson had been in a degree program, but left to come to Denver and work in the cannabis business because, in his words: “I really wanted to be a part of this industry.” Though the thought of Christie as president was a scary prospect to him, Johnson said he was content for the time being. “I love what I do,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Amber Bacca, General Manager at Colorado Harvest Company, conceded that the upcoming presidential election was a concern. But she said she wasn’t worried about her future should a President Rubio end legalization, noting that she’d learned a lot of new skills in her current job that could be put to use in other industries.

“I do this because I’m passionate about the marijuana industry and want to further it,” she said.

Others in the industry doubted that America would support a non-pot-friendly candidate. “People like weed enough they’ll go out to vote him out,” John Falconer, who works at Edipure, a THC-infused edibles company, said.

Budtender Chad Drew agreed: “I don’t think the nation will vote for someone who isn’t pot friendly any more. It’d be like banning fast food.”

Some of that optimism is shaded by the fact that, in Colorado, legalization is widely considered a success. After a slow start in 2014, the state is on pace to nearly double tax receipts this year and bring in upward of $125m to tax coffers. Most of the predictions that legalization critics feared, including a rash of pot-related deaths and an increase in violent crime, have not come to pass.

It’s also increasingly popular. After Colorado voters passed legalization in 2012 by 10 percentage points, support now outpaces opposition by 20 points, 58% to 38%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken earlier this year. Noting that support for cannabis far exceeds support for President Obama, who twice carried Colorado, Cullen said: “Where I am from, it’s actually political suicide to make a comment like Christie did.”

Though dispensaries widely mocked the New Jersey governor’s comments –Colorado Harvest Company even held a contest for who could do the best Christie impersonation – many believe that opponents like him are simply misinformed. “If they were to come down and see,” Johnson said, “we’re not just a bunch of stoners.”

Cullen agreed. “I would invite Christie to come tour our facilities and make a more informed decision,” he said, pointing to the industry’s professionalized atmosphere, including “casino-style” security and strict environmental controls.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, was less measured in its response. “The 2016 presidential hopefuls like Christie ought to be more concerned with positioning themselves to be on the right side of history than on trying to appease a vocal minority that is woefully out of touch with both changing public and scientific opinion,” Paul Armentano, the group’s deputy director, said in a statement.