Cannabis dispensaries in Colorado will soon restrict their daily purchase limits for cannabis concentrates as well as add more restrictions for younger medical cannabis patients.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 21-1317 into law, the biggest piece of cannabis regulatory legislation since the state legalized cannabis in 2012. The bill advanced to the Colorado House floor last month and had gone through many changes before being signed into law. A previous draft of the bill included a 15 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cap on cannabis products, but that has been removed from the final draft of the bill. The bill includes several exemptions, including physician’s authorization, significant physical or geographic hardship, a homebound patient, or a medical cannabis consumer who had a card prior to age 18.
The new law sets purchase limits for concentrates like wax and shatter to eight grams for people ages 21 and over. The current limit for concentrate purchases is 40 grams. Dispensaries will also use a real-time database to ensure no customer goes to another dispensary to try to exceed the daily limit. Cannabis manufacturers must also include warnings on packages and issue guidance for serving sizes.
“The prime thing is to reduce the access for teenagers” so they can’t “get their hands on an incredible amount of products and very concentrated products that they can then give or sell to people their age or younger who don’t yet have access to legal market because they’re not 21,” said Representative Yadira Caraveo, sponsor of the bill.
The bill also aims to keep high-potency cannabis products away from teens and adds further restrictions to obtain a medical cannabis card for those aged 18-20. The new bill requires patients aged 18-20 to receive authorization from two different doctors from two different practices and would require a doctor to evaluate the continued need for medical cannabis every six months as opposed to every year.
