Pueblo makes ‘The Nightly Show’, so we have to explain things

Explaining marijuana scholarships because… the Internet.

Last night, Pueblo “made” an appearance on Larry Wilmore’s ‘The Nightly Show’. In a segment called “Larry’s Dank News Stash”, Wilmore would go on to make fun of Pueblo’s scholarships funded from the marijuana excise tax. Then he introduced a marijuana trope as “Pueblo Comptroller Slade Kinnebrew.”

He made funnies that only 25 scholarships, of $1,000 each were awarded but not the 400 promised by Pueblo County Commissioners.

Here’s the full clip.

I can’t believe I have to explain this. Before you go all Westword and write this up as news or you start to complain about Pueblo’s image as stoner city — Larry Wilmore is a comedian, not a reporter. His show is on Comedy Central. He’s a c-o-m-e-d-i-a-n on C-O-M-E-D-Y C-E-N-T-R-A-L.

So on the marijuana scholarships — I really can’t believe I have to explain this — the 25 scholarships was fully-funded by the initial income from Pueblo County’s marijuana excise tax. The program wasn’t supposed to ramp up until the 2017–2018 academic year. It’s still on track to give out half of the collected marijuana excise tax. Pueblo County still projects that excise tax revenue will be able to fund 400 scholarships ($1,000 each) to students.

Before you criticize Larry Wilmore for not reporting the facts. Well, he’s not a reporter, and comedians don’t have to report the facts. They don’t have to report anything, really.

But the segment did connect on one of the major complaints of the marijuana program — $1,000 isn’t a lot of money and you have to go to a Pueblo-area school (Pueblo Community College or Colorado State University — Pueblo).

There are serious concerns about the future of the program as well as its implementation. Should Pueblo County voters decide to prohibit the sale of recreational marijuana, the program would likely be killed.

As for the current implementation of the program, voters only directed that half of the marijuana excise tax be given towards scholarships. The ballot question did not provide any specifics on who should receive the money, which schools students can attend, or who qualifies for the program.

The current scholarship program, which initially had problems attracting applicants, stipulated:

students must have a 3.0,

be a graduating senior from Pueblo County, attend an institution in Pueblo County,

have and expected family income of $13,085 or less,

and perform 40 hours of community service.

None of these requirements were in the ballot language which voters approved so it will be interesting to see how Pueblo County Commissioners or voters refine the marijuana funded scholarship program.