New Effort to Limit THC in Colorado Cannabis

A recent amendment to a Colorado state bill has cannabis users across the state seeing red. This new proposal would cap THC levels in cannabis flower and extracts below the current averages of local product.

According to The Denver Post, the new bill would limit products to 15 or 16 percent THC. The average potency of most cannabis is 17.1 percent, and concentrates are 62.1 percent.

This legislation is being introduced by Republican representative Kathleen Conti, who claims that there is simply not enough information about higher THC cannabis.

“All the studies that have been done on THC levels have been done on THC levels between two and eight percent,” stated Conti in an interview with the Denver Post. “Most of the marijuana coming in now, the flowers are being rated at a THC count of about 17 percent on average, so this is dramatically over, and we really don’t know that we’ve gotten the true feel on the health risks associated with that marijuana.”

One of the groups supporting this is Smart Colorado, an organization that focuses on youths and cannabis use.

“One of our legislative priorities for this year was to raise awareness of the high levels of THC in the marijuana products in our state,” Henny Lasley, who represents Smart Colorado, told The Denver Post. “Concentrates are of course what are put into marijuana edibles, and we have well over 300 of those food products, many, many of which are attractive to children. And the high potency and unknown health impacts of those are deeply concerning to Smart.”

However, opponents of the bill are claiming that implementing it would cause a major loss to much of the cannabis industry.

“I don’t think a lot of thought was put into the proposals,” Mark Slaugh, CEO of iComply in Colorado, told The Denver Post. “This bill threatens to wipe out most infused product manufacturers, and its language is unclear as to what to do with edibles.”

The bill would also require a labeling of products with THC amount, as well as warnings of risks associated with using cannabis. Industry insiders are complaining that not enough research has been done to prove that cannabis can cause associated harms, and that this would drastically reduce the quality of their products, since some extracts can be in the 70 and 80 percent ranges of THC content.

The bill has not yet been rescheduled for a vote, and it has so far been met with much opposition. Hopefully, with enough protest from local businesses and cannabis users, the potency cap will be overturned so that more research can be done before a decision is reached.