Colorado will impose stricter rules for the purchase of medical marijuana starting Jan. 1 following several months of deliberation over how to execute a new state law meant largely to limit young people’s access to and abuse of high-potency THC products.
Mark Ferrandino, executive director of the state’s Department of Revenue and a former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, announced the rules late Tuesday night. He had final say, but received heavy input from state marijuana enforcement officials and a task force that included parents, health professionals and marijuana industry representatives. That task force was formed by the new law passed this year, HB21-1317, that represented the state’s most significant overhaul of marijuana regulations since recreational legalization in 2012.
In the process of passing that bill, the legislature heard stories parents shared about the dramatic effects some marijuana products have had on their children. Parents spoke of psychosis, suicidal thoughts and nonstop vomiting, among other issues, and by the time the legislature was to vote on the bill, nearly all members — 93 out of 100 — were convinced of a need to tighten the law.
Of particular concern to the legislature are products such as wax and shatter that, unlike traditional marijuana flower, are concentrated products made in labs containing much higher percentages of THC — the main psychoactive compound in cannabis — than even the most potent flower. [Read more at The Denver Post]
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