Pubdate: Tue, 18 Mar 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press
Page: 2A

POT PACKAGING RULES CLARIFIED

New Law Forces Edibles to Be in Childproof Packaging

(AP) - Colorado clarified its marijuana packaging requirements Monday,
extending to medical pot the same restrictions in place for
recreational pot.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, who signed the bill into law, called it an
important clarification to make sure minors don't illegally access
marijuana.

"Marijuana should not be easily accessible or attractive to kids,"
Hickenlooper said.

The new law requires edible marijuana sold to medical marijuana
patients to meet the same packaging standards as pot sold to
recreational customers. The packaging must be opaque and childproof.

Most medical marijuana sold commercially already complies with
existing recreational packaging standards.

The new law also gives marijuana shops the same authority that liquor
stores have to confiscate fraudulent IDs from underage consumers. It
passed unanimously in both chambers of the legislature.

"Everyone came together on this," said Rep. Daniel Kagan, a Denver
Democrat who sponsored the law.

Dr. George SamWang, a pediatric emergency room physician at Children's
Hospital Colorado, joined the bill signing and said there's anecdotal
evidence of emergency rooms seeing more cases of youth marijuana overdoses.

But Wang said there's not enough data to draw conclusions on the
effect of recreational pot, and that more study is needed.

"We've only been experiencing this for a couple of years," Wang
said.

Another new law signed Monday allows local governments that want to
run criminal background checks on people working in the marijuana
industry to submit fingerprints to the Colorado Bureau of
Investigation. Everyone working in the industry already completes
state-level background checks.
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MAP posted-by: Matt