Amendment 64’s Task Force Has Quite a Task In Front of It

I have written about the Executive Order entered by Governor John Hickenlooper forming a Task Force of 24 members to meet and make recommendations to the current Legislature helping them implement Amendment 64. Who, though, makes up that Task Force? The two co-chairs of the Task Force are the Governor’s Attorney/Chief of Staff and the Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue. Task Force members include four current state lawmakers; 10 represent government agencies, a physician who opposes the legalization of cannabis, a law school professor, an attorney, two people representing employers and employees and a representative from the medical cannabis business community. One member represents the campaign to pass A64 and advises on the intent of that legislation. Lastly, there is one member representing cannabis consumers.

So, what significance is it to have the majority of the Task Force be made up of a cross section of governmental representatives who most of would disavow knowledge of growing, cooking with or smoking cannabis?

Part of the basic foundation of the new cannabis legislation is the balance between local control and those matters of statewide concern and therefore, statewide legislation. Amendment 64 clearly gives power to local governmental entities to decide if they will allow the local sale of cannabis for instance. For instance, local governments will be able to decide if they want to ban the retail sale of cannabis in their county or town, but they cannot forbid adults 21 and over from possessing under an ounce.

There were two areas which have been quite important and which came from the consumer perspective, thereby educating the others in the work groups. One area of discussion and debate was potency limits being placed on edibles. At first the majority of the work group wanted potency limits placed on edibles. As the members became more educated by the cannabis consumer member that higher potency levels were not indicative of adverse health effects the group began to realize that there was not a need for limits of active THC in a product. The recommendation now to the Task Force will be the labels of edibles have the “serving size” within each product based on ten (10) milligrams of THC for each serving in that product and the label will reflect how many serving sizes that edible provides.

There was a faction of the work groups that was so against the use of cannabis it supported the federal government shutting down legalization. In an effort to counter that movement a cannabis consumer representative recommended that a panel be formed of experts who have a basic understanding of cannabinoid toxicology report every two years to the Department of Revenue, the Legislature, and to the Colorado Department of Public Health on current scientific findings and updates and research.

Ann Toney, P.C. is a Denver-based law firm that focuses on medical cannabis business law and cannabis defense; and defending people charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs (DUI/DUID). Ann Toney can be contacted via phone or web at (303) 399-5556 and www.anntoneylaw.com.