Colorado’s Marijuana Task Force Releases Final Recommendations

Colorado’s Marijuana Task Force Releases Final Recommendations

Today, Colorado’s marijuana task force released their final report, laying out their recommendations for how they feel Amendment 64 should be implemented. The task force was established by the state’s governor to recommend regulations for legal cannabis to the state’s legislature. The final report was over 150 pages long, and can be found by clicking here.

Here’s a summary of the recommendations that were made:

• The task force recommends that the cannabis industry “be required to have
  common ownership from seed to sale. [This] means that cultivation, processing and manufacturing, and retail sales must be a common enterprise under common ownership.” This is the exact opposite of Washington State’s Initiative 502, which requires that a licensed grower be different from the retail store owner where the product would be sold.

• The task force recommends that for the first year of licensing, “only entities with valid medical marijuana licenses, and those who applied for medical marijuana licenses before December 10. 2012 when Amendment 64 was proclaimed as law, should able to obtain licenses to grow, process and sell to adults.”
• It was recommended that the proposed model of regulations be reviewed after 3 years to examine if it should be the continued model.
• Recommendations were made for the Colorado General Assembly to “consider sending a marijuana sales tax to the ballot for voter approval”, which would be in addition to the 15% excise tax that was included in Amendment 64. According to the task force, “In endorsing these two taxes on adult use marijuana, Task Force members acknowledge the need to keep taxes low enough so as not to encourage a persistent black market in marijuana.”
• The task force recommends that a new “Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) should be created in the Colorado Department of Revenue, funded by General Fund revenue for at least the next five years, to provide regulatory oversight of Colorado’s marijuana industries.”
• Although the task force recommends that only residents be able to legally grow and sell cannabis, they recommend clearly that out-of-state individuals be allowed to legally purchase and consume cannabis.
• Without recommending a specific amount, the task force suggests that tourists to the state be given a smaller possession limit than the one ounce established in Amendment 64.
• The task force recommends that “the General Assembly require that all adult use marijuana products be labeled to indicate either: Total THC content as % by weight; OR Total mg dose for activated THC or TOTAL THC.”
• The task force recommends that “All types of marijuana sold from adult use marijuana retail facilities should be in child proof packaging and have warning labels that… list all pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and solvents used in cultivation and processing.”
• The task force recommends that “the General Assembly enact a requirement that the Colorado Department of Revenue develop rules and regulations that ensure the safe transport of marijuana and marijuana products among and between licensed businesses and labs.”
• The Task Force recommends that “the General Assembly enact no statute either prohibiting or requiring the use of marijuana secured automated dispensing systems within licensed retail marijuana stores”, noting that it should be the business’s decision whether or not to use one at their location.
• It was recommended that those growing their now-legal 6 plants should be required to have it covered, such as in a greenhouse, to avoid clear public display.
• The task force recommends permitting localities to decide whether they want cannabis retail outlets established in their city.

These recommendations will now be used by the newly-established Joint Select Committee on the Implementation of the Amendment 64 Task Force Recommendations, which will have a limited time-frame to form legislation to be considered by the state’s legislature.

– TheJointBlog