About 120 people are facing charges for possessing relatively small amounts of marijuana in Weld County, and local authorities said they won't follow the lead of other counties that have decided to drop those cases before Amendment 64 takes effect.

Although several counties, including Boulder and Denver, have already stopped prosecuting low-level marijuana possession cases, Weld District Attorney Ken Buck said he won't do the same. Buck, an avid opponent of Amendment 64, said he plans to decide whether to continue prosecuting those cases when the amendment takes effect, which is expected to happen within the next month or so. The amendment legalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Heath Montgomery, spokesman for the district attorney's office, said of the 120 people who are facing marijuana possession charges, about 90 would still face other charges if their small possession charges were dropped. He said most people accused of having small amounts of pot are also accused of other crimes, ranging from traffic violations to assault.

Buck said dropping charges against people caught with less than 1 ounce of marijuana wouldn't have much of an impact on the time or money his office spends. He said he thinks legalizing any possession of marijuana will put more of a burden on prosecutors.

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