BUZZKILL: Colorado Releases Rules For Legalizing Cannabis

On New Years Day 2014, cannabis will be legally sold in Colorado. But on Monday the Colorado Department of Revenue published a 64-page report to explain the how recreational cannabis will be licensed, regulated and sold in Colorado.

Colorado’s emerging cannabis industry will be regulated by the CDR and has sited strict guidelines for just how cannabis retailers will operate legally. The guidelines include how cannabis growing will be conducted, marketed, labeled and tested for quality.

Major focuses of the CDR report include cannabis labeling and product testing.

Cannabis packaging must include clear labels with language the state has provided in the report. THC amounts, potency, how to smoke cannabis, a  list of non organic pesticides, fungicides and herbicides were used in the cultivation process must be clearly labeled on both cannabis buds, wax and cannabis-infused edibles.

The labels must also list state written warnings about various cannabis health risks.

They include:

• “There may be health risks associated with the consumption of this product.”
• “This product is intended for use by adults 21 years and older. Keep out of the reach of children.”
• “This product is unlawful outside the State of Colorado.”
• “This product is infused with Retail Marijuana.”
• “This product was produced without regulatory oversight for health, safety, or efficacy.”
• “The intoxicating effects of this product may be delayed by two or more hours.”

Cannabis consumers must bring a state issued ID to establish they are over 21. Consumers will can only by up to an ounce from licensed cannabis shops. Residents Colorado will also allowed to have up to six cannabis plants growing in their home for private use only.

Tourists are limited to quarter ounce purchases.

The CDR will also design a tracking system to monitor and regulate seed sales, and holding making cannabis retailers responsible for every plant grown and sold.

The new rules were openly criticized by The Associated Press who were not pleased that cannabis would be sold at all in Colorado.

“The regulations are largely dry details that make pot seem more like a loaf of bread or an over-the-counter sinus remedy than a party drug,” the AP wrote.

Mason Tvert, the communications director for Marijuana Policy Project and co-director of the Yes on Amendment 64 campaign in Colorado, commented on the “All In with Chris Hayes” show.

“Tobacco kills about about 400,000 Americans per year, alcohol about 40,000 Americans and marijuana has never killed a single human being in history,” Tvert said. “That’s not to say it shouldn’t be regulated and controlled, it’s just to say that while this is new and some people might have knee-jerk reactions, we need to treat the product like it is, which is a relatively benign substance that millions of adults use responsibly.”