The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Austin Joseph Lente, Defendant-Appellee

Summary

The court held that extracting hash oil with butane constituted manufacturing marijuana rather than protected personal processing under Amendment 64 because extraction fell within the settled statutory meaning of manufacturing when the amendment was adopted. Because Lente was unlicensed, the prohibition on unlicensed manufacture was not unconstitutional as applied to him, and his overbreadth and vagueness arguments also failed. Chief Justice Rice, joined by Justice Gabriel, dissented, reasoning that the statutory scheme treated processing and manufacturing inconsistently, making the prohibition vague and requiring application of lenity.