Colorado Governor Signs Six Cannabis-Related Bills

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n May 29, Gov. Jared Polis signed multiple cannabis bills into law, ranging from social consumption to delivery and research.

The following bills were signed, and target various improvements and changes made to the state’s medical and recreational cannabis laws.

House Bill 1230 will allow for legal and safe public consumption and legalizes the operation of such businesses in the state.

House Bill 1234 targets medical cannabis delivery operations and will allow patients to have their medicine brought to their door until 2021. After 2021, recreational cannabis consumers will also be permitted to have cannabis delivered to their homes.

House Bill 1090 alters regulations regarding cannabis investments. Now, publicly traded companies can obtain a cannabis license, which will hopefully allow an increase in future investments of Colorado cannabis businesses. There is also no longer a limitation regarding how many out-of-state owners a single cannabis company must have (previously it required 15 owners).

Senate Bill 224 and Senate Bill 218 work together to allow the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies to monitor the various government groups which maintain medical and recreational cannabis in the state.

Finally, House Bill 1311 creates the institute of cannabis research at the Colorado State University, Pueblo.

Many advocates have fought for these bills to become law, specifically that of social consumption. Polis shared his own experiences in recognizing a need for social consumption lounges before he signed the bill. “Colorado has many tourists and residents who choose to participate [in legal cannabis use]. Up until this bill, there’s been no way to have safe public consumption,” Polis said before signing the bill on May 29, according to Westword. “I’ve smelled it walking my dog. For many of us with kids, we want to make sure we don’t have that in our neighborhoods.”

Social consumption is a measure that Colorado legislators have tried to pass over the past few years with no success. This is the most expansive bill yet in terms of what it will allow.

This monumental signing event comes shortly after Polis signed a bill into law that would allow doctors to prescribe CBD in place of opiates, and another that requires probable cause for drug sniffing dogs to be used in searches. It seems that the state wants to stay at the top of their game when it comes to the ever-expanding cannabis industry.