News Nuggets (Colorado)

Driving-while-high bill defeated a third time

Colorado lawmakers have failed a third time to pass a bill that would have set a legal limit to how much THC motorists could have in their systems.

Just hours after the Colorado House of Representatives approved the measure, which would have established a THC ceiling of 5 nanograms per liter of blood for drivers to be considered too inebriated to operate a vehicle, the state Senate deadlocked on it by a vote of 17-17. That was exactly one vote shy of the majority needed to pass it.

The legislature has tried unsuccessfully to pass versions of the bill three separate times since last year. The measure’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Mark Waller, says he plans to reintroduce the bill later.

Marijuana money prompts legal flap in Colorado

A move by Colorado lawmakers to transfer nearly $8 million generated from medical marijuana registration fees to the agency that enforces the state’s compassionate-use program has prompted some cannabis activists to cry foul.

Democratic Rep. Beth McCann and other legislators want to use the money to breathe life back in the state’s underfunded Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division. But activists like Robert Corry, an attorney who works closely with the cannabis industry, says Colorado law prevents lawmakers from using registration fee revenue for any other purpose other than to help patients. Corry penned a letter to the state attorney general threatening a class-action lawsuit on behalf of patients if the transfer goes through.

Not everyone in the medical cannabis advocacy community agree with Corry: Some proponents have called on the legislature to go ahead with the transfer, saying the enforcement agency needs to be properly funded for the medical cannabis industry to maintain legitimacy.

Medical cannabis group wants outdoor pot ads banned

In a move that has generated no small amount of anger in the very industry it claims to represent, a medical cannabis trade organization has called on Denver city officials to ban outdoor marijuana ads.

Under the proposal by the Denver-based Medical Marijuana Industry Group (MMIG), outdoor signs, billboards and other advertisements by cannabis businesses would be prohibited throughout the city. Michael Elliott, executive director of MMIG, says such a measure would help further legitimize the state’s cannabis industry.

But at least one other Colorado medical cannabis group sees the proposal as a bad idea. Shawn Coleman, director of the Cannabis Business Alliance, told the Denver Post such a ban could endanger an industry already under assault from Washington, D.C.