A new bill that advanced this week may may it harder to get cannabis concentrates in Colorado.
Backed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the legislation is in effort to crack down on the state’s marijuana industry and aims to make it harder for medical marijuana to get passed to others by:
Requiring a doctor to take more steps to authorize a medical marijuana card, particularly for those aged 18-20.
Creating a medical marijuana purchase tracking system to prevent looping, in which patients can visit multiple stores to exceed the per-purchase cap.
Limiting most single-day purchases to 8 grams, instead of the current 40 grams.
The legislation would also require the state to conduct a public information campaign about high-potency THC; provide $3 million for scientific research; and set rules for new individual packaging.
Critics of the marijuana industry believe caps are needed to reduce harm to children who get their hands on cannabis.
“The potency has just gone up and up and up so the standard is just that much higher, even for standard users they are getting exposed to much more THC,” says Cinnamon Bidwell, a marijuana researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.
This is alarming as a 2019 survey of Colorado high school students found 10% dabbed at least once in the last 30 days, compared to 7% in 2017.
