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Proposed changes to marijuana sales laws are too broad, too soon

Two industry groups have come up with a proposal to change how Colorado regulates marijuana sales. Titled “Concerning Marijuana,” the draft legislation would enact sweeping changes.

This is too much and too soon. It is unclear what problems this proposal is intended to fix or why the changes it would enact are desirable, let alone necessary. The current regulatory structure has been in place barely three years and should be given more time before lawmakers decide it should be revamped.

Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana by way of Amendment 64 in 2012. The regulations governing its sale and use were enacted, as the ballot measure envisioned, by the Legislature the next year. Medical marijuana was similarly legalized by the voters in 2000.

There are still issues with the legal merchandising of marijuana, particularly around banking and federal law, but this proposal cannot address those. It would create a five-member commission whose members would be appointed by the governor to regulate the marijuana trade. The commission would have sole authority to issue licenses and enact regulations controlling marijuana sales. Such regulations are now put forward by the Marijuana Enforcement Division of the Department of Revenue, but the new commission would need no Department of Revenue approval.

The proposed legislation would also specify how pesticides can be used. That would include allowing remediation of pot contaminated by pesticides rather than destroying it.

And it would allow for marijuana special events where marijuana stores could sell their products to buyers 21 or older.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has rightly expressed reservations about some of those provisions. Even its sponsor, state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulpher Springs, says he expects it to change greatly, saying, “There is no bill; there is a draft.”

But why is there a draft? The commission would fix nothing. “Remediation” of poisoned pot sounds scary. Special events – public pot parties? – are exactly what critics of Amendment 64 feared. Even the marijuana industry is divided concerning this draft bill.

This proposal deserves to go nowhere. And given that the end of the legislative session is fast approaching, that outcome seems likely.



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