Pubdate: Sat, 28 Mar 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122

DON'T GIVE UP ON EDIBLES MANDATE

The state Senate's Health and Human Services Committee dug in its 
heels Wednesday and, with a commendable 5-0 vote, gave a resounding 
"no" to a proposal to water down current requirements that marijuana 
edible products be easily identifiable - even outside their packaging.

That requirement has not yet been put in place at the manufacturing 
end, admittedly, for several reasons.

First, a task force charged with making recommendations regarding 
edible products' appearance threw up its hands in November and said 
it couldn't reach consensus.

Second, state regulators say they are having trouble devising rules 
given present statutory language.

And third, the official date for implementation is still not until 
the end of this year.

Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs, sought to give regulators "more 
options" with Senate Bill 136, but his colleagues were not impressed. 
To some, it seemed as if the state would be edging away from its 
commitment made just last May that it would crack down on edibles 
that were indistinguishable from common food items - and in some 
cases, were those very items sprayed with cannabis infused oils and repackaged.

We credit Hill's good intentions - and those of state regulators, for 
that matter - in trying to revise the current statute. And we 
recognize that some marijuana products (a liquid, for example) would 
be very difficult to make identifable outside a container. No doubt 
that's why last year's legislation said the products should be 
"clearly identifiable, when practicable ... ."

But most edible products can be made identifiable on their own and 
some of those that can't be don't necessarily need to be on the 
market. Amendment 64 never bestowed a constitutional right to retail 
every conceivable variety of edible marijuana product, no matter how 
confusing it might be to unwary consumers, let alone kids.

Hold the line, lawmakers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom