{"id":9374,"date":"2021-05-14T23:53:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T23:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=4568947"},"modified":"2021-05-14T23:53:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T23:53:26","slug":"colorados-new-marijuana-regulation-bill-is-out-heres-whats-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorados-new-marijuana-regulation-bill-is-out-heres-whats-in-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s new marijuana regulation bill is out. Here\u2019s what\u2019s in it."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorados-new-marijuana-regulation-bill-is-out-heres-whats-in-it\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/colorados-new-marijuana-regulation-bill-is-out-heres-whats-in-it.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/05\/14\/marijuana-cannabis-concentrate-regulation-thc-colorado-legislature\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"4568947\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A bipartisan bill to more strictly regulate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/04\/28\/cannabis-marijuana-thc-potency-colorado-legislature\/\">high-potency marijuana products<\/a> debuted Friday in the Colorado House after months of workshopping.<\/p>\n<p>The bill, HB21-1317, proposes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new analysis of existing research \u201crelated to the physical and mental health effects of high-potency THC marijuana and concentrates,\u201d conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health, and designed to inform policy recommendations for possible new restrictions approved in the coming years by the legislature.<\/li>\n<li>Start a new statewide tracking system to ensure that medical marijuana patients do not \u201cdispensary hop\u201d and buy their maximum allowed purchase amounts at multiple sites in the same day; limit concentrate purchases for medical and recreational customers to 8 grams per day (down from current 40 grams).<\/li>\n<li>Medical and recreational dispensaries would have to portion grams of concentrate in 10-dose packages.<\/li>\n<li>Doctors who recommend medical marijuana must conduct a full assessment of their patients\u2019 mental health history in addition to their physical health history.<\/li>\n<li>The youngest medical marijuana patients \u2014 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds \u2014 would receive medical cards only after consulting two different doctors who after in-person visits diagnose them \u201cas having a debilitating or disabling medical condition.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>County coroners have to conduct toxicology screenings on anyone 24 and younger who dies by suicide, overdose or in an accident and then report that data to the state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Notably absent from the bill is any cap on potency levels allowed in legally sold products.<\/p>\n<p>When Thornton Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/02\/04\/colorado-marijuana-thc-cap-bill-cannabis\/\">initially pitched this bill<\/a> earlier this year she had asked that all products be capped at 15% THC content \u2014 far below the level of concentrates, which can range into the nineties, and below even many run-of-the-mill strains of flower sold in dispensaries.<\/p>\n<p>She and House Speaker Alec Garnett, her co-sponsor on this bill, say the state can reevaluate potency caps later, depending on what the bill\u2019s required independent analysis finds out.<\/p>\n<p>Garnett led the negotiations that produced this bill and said he\u2019s optimistic he\u2019ll have a broad coalition, though industry representatives are expected to seek some amendments. Garnett said he\u2019s motivated in part by anecdotes of \u201cfull-blown mental health crises\u201d among young people.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Two marijuana trade groups, Colorado Leads and Marijuana Industry Group, issued a joint statement pledging to \u201ccontinue to work actively with patients, doctors, other stakeholders, and lawmakers to ensure patients have access to their constitutionally protected medicine, while avoiding the unintended consequence of stifling our currently successful and growing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In tandem with this bill, Garnett has had talks on a possible ballot measure, referred by the legislature, that would raise taxes on marijuana products. He\u2019s discussed combining it with an existing November ballot initiative seeking an additional tax on all recreational marijuana products in order to fund after-school programming for low-income children.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said Friday, that might not happen: \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to talk through if there\u2019s a path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The marijuana regulation bill has bipartisan sponsorship and could receive its first committee hearing as soon as Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Colorado lawmakers aren&#8217;t going to try THC potency caps this year, but do want to put limits on how much concentrate can be purchased in a day <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8313,5062,52,7337,6907,6811,77,9,5019,441,1,3,18,61,1736],"tags":[8314,5063,2632,7338,6909,6816,2655,5022,3015,2622],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}