Pubdate: Wed, 03 Sep 2014
Column: CannaBiz
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Copyright: 2014 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford

STATE CONSIDERS NEW MARIJUANA RULES, AND REALM OF CARING LOOKS TO EXPAND

Rules, Rules Everywhere

On Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Revenue held a public-comment 
hearing regarding proposed changes to its medical- and 
recreational-marijuana code. As it came after our deadline, we can 
only tell you what the department was scheduled to consider prior to 
our paper going to press. See future columns for updates.

Regarding MMJ centers:

Fees for the three tiers of licenses would be slashed from $3,750 to 
$3,000 for centers with 1 to 300 patients; from $8,750 to $7,000 for 
those with 301 to 500 patients; and from $14,000 to $11,000 for those 
with 501 or more patients.

Since patients can change centers every 30 days, "it may be 
considered a violation of public safety," affecting the business 
license, if a different center than the one designated as a patient's 
primary provider accepts the same patient within that time frame.

An updated rule would mandate that all infused products are within a 
container prior to sale, and "if the container is not 
child-resistant, the medical marijuana center must place the 
container within an opaque and resealable exit package that is 
child-resistant."

Regarding RMJ stores:

A new definition calls "multiple-serving edible retail marijuana 
product[s]" packaged edibles with pieces containing more than 10 mg 
of active THC, but not more than 100 mg total per package. This is in 
response to several well-publicized overdoses.

Similarly, a new rule would mandate individual servings in a MSERMP 
(or, you know, edible) are "physically demarked in a way that enables 
a reasonable person to intuitively determine how much of the product 
constitutes a single serving of active THC." If this is not possible, 
then the product cannot contain more than 10 mg of THC.

A "responsible vendor" training program would see owners and 
employees complete a two-hour program outlining topics like the 
effects of cannabis, how to spot a fake ID, and criminal liability 
within 90 days of being hired, and then annually thereafter.

A growing web

The Stanley brothers, the local quintet behind the nonprofit Realm of 
Caring (theroc.us) and its nationally famous strain Charlotte's Web, 
are hoping to expand their high-CBD oil across the United States 
through a loophole, The New York Times reported last week.

"The plan would seem to defy a federal prohibition on the sale of 
marijuana products across state lines," the paper writes. "But the 
Stanleys have justified it with a simple semantic swap: They now call 
their crop industrial hemp, based on its low levels of THC, the 
psychoactive ingredient in pot."

A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency said, "When we get into 
hemp, it gets a little squishy, but it still is illegal."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom