Six states share a border with Colorado, one of the first in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana use, and one of those neighbors, Nebraska, is clamoring for Colorado to help cover the costs of prosecuting Nebraskans caught bringing pot home, where it is not legal.

In western Nebraska, the part of the state closest to Colorado, local law enforcement has noticed an increase marijuana arrests. Police and sheriffs attribute the increase to Nebraskans going over the border and buying pot in Colorado, which sells up to a quarter ounce to out-of-state residents who are 21 or older (Colorado residents can purchase up to a full ounce).

But bringing Colorado marijuana into Nebraska is not allowed under state law. This difference in the two neighboring states’ laws has upset many in Nebraska who argue Colorado should bear some of the legal costs of arresting, prosecuting and jailing Nebraskans who break the law.

Adam Hayward, the sheriff of Deuel County, whose southern border abuts Colorado, wants state lawmakers to do something. But the legislature shows no signs of getting involved, he says.

“I don't know what it will take to get someone to stand up and do something to try to get some of our money back,” Hayward told the Omaha World-Herald.

Nebraska’s attorney general, Jon Bruning, has been non-committal about suing Colorado to recover some law enforcement costs.

Some Colorado lawmakers are sympathetic to Nebraska’s plight. Rep. Amy Stephens introduced a bill that would divert surplus marijuana tax dollars into a grant program to fund the Colorado State Patrol and bordering states’ police agencies to prevent marijuana from leaving the state. “Our neighbors understand it puts a stress on their law enforcement,”' Stephens told a state House committee. “I think it only fair to work with other states to do this.”

Law enforcement officials both inside and outside of Colorado have not been supportive of the legislation. Perhaps one reason is that, other than Nebraska, Colorado’s other five neighboring states (Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) have not reported an upswing in marijuana busts.

“I've heard people saying it's becoming an epidemic, and it's certainly not,” Captain Scott Harrington of the Kansas Highway Patrol, whose troopers patrol the eastern boundary of Colorado, told USA Today. “It’s status quo. We’re just not seeing something that turns our heads.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Nebraska on Its Own with Drug Enforcement Costs Tied to Colorado Pot Sales (by David Hendee, Omaha World-Herald)

Patrolling for Pot Traffic on Colorado's Fringes (by Trevor Hughes, USA Today)

Colorado High On Marijuana Revenue—Billion-Dollar Industry To Bring State More Than $100 Million In Annual Taxes (by Steve Straehley, AllGov)