There seems to be an uptick in marijuana legislation designed by those with little to no experience in the industry. One of the latest bills out of Colorado, HB 1317, joins the ranks of other states with bills that injure the industry.
According to HB 1317, "the bill requires medical marijuana concentrate and retail marijuana concentrate to be sold in a package containing one gram separated into no less than 10 equal portioned amounts. The bill limits the amount of retail marijuana concentrate that a patient can purchase in one day to 8 grams."
Essentially, this bill would require concentrates to be packed in single-dose servings, adding to packaging costs and senseless packaging waste that already is a plague on the industry.
Additionally, HB 1317 would also authorize physicians to recommend a THC potency level and daily authorized quantity. This information would be relayed to dispensaries through a state-run seed-to-sale tracking system that would flag consumers who attempt to purchase more than their allowed amounts.
As an industry worker coming from the extraction side of Colorado's marijuana market, this is disturbing news. Not only would it restrict patients from accessing cannabis, but it also calls for more needless packaging.
The cannabis industry needs reasonable regulations, not policies that continuously change with the intention of disrupting the industry. HB 1317, for lack of a better term, is the latest in a series of ignorant proposals written by politicians who bow to the demands of the pharmaceutical industry.
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