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." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom