Jacqueline Collins
Audio By Carbonatix
Just over a week after introducing a handful of rules aimed at cannabis-friendly events and product advertising claims, Colorado marijuana officials have pulled back the proposed restrictions.
With about ten days left in 2023’s rulemaking period, the state Marijuana Enforcement Division added language to proposed regulations that would have prohibited licensed cannabis businesses from participating in unlicensed consumption events, which make up the bulk of cannabis hospitality in Colorado. The rules also suggested a
ban on product advertising claims regarding safety or health or physical benefits.
Unlicensed or private events, such as ticketed cannabis dinners, food pairings, movie screenings, art exhibitions and other events where pot consumption is allowed, account for most of Colorado’s pot-friendly activities. Although commercial cannabis has been legal in Colorado since 2012, the state legislature did not create a licensing framework for lounges, tasting rooms or other cannabis-friendly businesses until 2019. Only a handful of local governments allow licensed marijuana hospitality or events, however, with just five permitted venues and mobile lounges currently operating in Colorado, all of which are in the Denver area.
In October, a small group of unlicensed cannabis event organizers and participants asked MED officials to consider creating a new temporary pot consumption license for events, but they were told that creating a new consumption license would have to be done by the state legislature. Less than two weeks later, the department attempted to effectively ban unlicensed events across the state.
The MED’s last round of proposed rules, released October 30, would have banned licensed cannabis brands from promoting, participating in or providing products for “consumption activities that do not occur on the premises of a licensed hospitality business.” However, cannabis industry representatives and even a handful of licensed consumption businesses pushed back against the suggested rules upon their introduction. And in the MED’s final draft of cannabis industry regulation updates, released November 10, the suggested language was removed.
Also included in the MED’s last round of suggested rules was a small blurb banning any advertisement or product marketing “that asserts its products are safe or that its products provide health and physical benefits.” This would have impacted edibles that are marketed to help promote sleep, energy, appetite or focus, among other heath and wellness benefits.
Pot-industry representatives opposed the proposal, citing legal, scientific and ethical issues, including constitutional protections on commercial speech and state-backed scientific studies that show evidence of physical benefits from cannabis use. The MED initially brushed off the commercial speech argument, but ultimately removed the health and physical claim restrictions from the final rules.
Both of the rules were opposed by the Marijuana Industry Group, among other cannabis business organizations.
“The Marijuana Industry Group is grateful to the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) for juggling diverse stakeholder viewpoints throughout its robust rulemaking process. Most importantly, we applaud the MED’s recognizing the need to streamline and eliminate rules that, while initially well intended, are no longer relevant in the modern cannabis era,” a statement from the organization reads. “There is a lot more work to be done, much of which needs to happen statutorily. We look forward to working with the MED and other stakeholders to continue the streamlining momentum in the coming legislative session.”
The MED also raised sales limits at licensed cannabis bars, of which there is just one in the state, and opened the state’s commercial cannabis tracking system contract up for future bidding. Both moves were supported by the cannabis industry, though increased sales limits at hospitality businesses were initially opposed by groups created to keep pot products away from children.
Not all of the new rules were wins for cannabis business owners.
For the first time since recreational cannabis sales began, the MED solidified an increase to business application and licensing fees, which were opposed but ultimately accepted by business owners. Colorado’s latest cannabis regulations also add more post-harvest restrictions on potentially contaminated cannabis, including a symbol on products that failed contaminant testing but were later remediated before sale. This addition received more of a mixed response from cannabis growers and retailers.
Commercial marijuana is subject to testing for contaminants such as mold, pesticides and heavy metals in Colorado, but marijuana that fails testing is allowed to be decontaminated and then sold to consumers. To do this, growers can use everything from microwaves to X-ray and light irradiation, ozone machines and vaporized hydrogen peroxide. Some growers put their marijuana through similar processes before testing to ensure decontamination and lab approval; these products would not be labeled under the MED’s proposed rules.
Although the majority of the new rules take effect on January 8 of 2024, the decontamination symbol won’t be required until 2025, “to provide sufficient time for the development and implementation,” according to the MED.
