At some point soon this state needs to address and improve transparency in its regulation of Colorado’s marijuana industry.
The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division says information about how many plants have been grown and how much marijuana has been sold since Jan. 1 when retail sales began is confidential and protected by law.
The information was denied to reporters from USA Today and KUSA for . A spokeswoman told The Denver Post the seed-to-sale tracking system was designed to be a law enforcement mechanism and regulators have no need to generate an aggregate count.
Perhaps more disturbing, the state also wouldn’t say how many batches of marijuana edibles have been rejected because of high levels of THC — pot’s psychoactive component that is not to exceed 100 mg per package.
That should be publicly accessible information, similar to restaurants’ health code violations or liquor control law violations. The state’s website even contains searchable databases for those.
“(The Marijuana Enforcement Division) is committed to addressing the need for aggregate data consistent with its enforcement priorities,” said spokeswoman Natriece Bryant in an e-mail to The Post. “In the meantime, MED has been directed to focus on business-specific policing to guarantee the safety, strength and security of our regulatory system.
In other words, “we’re too busy.” To a degree, that is understandable, considering the state is building a new regulatory system from scratch. Indeed, regulators are apparently so overwhelmed that they recently pushed back the timeline to test marijuana for molds, pesticides and other contaminants.
Moreover, Bryant admits a discussion on releasing the data could be worthwhile.
If information has been collected, it could be easily disseminated. The public’s right to know the scope of this state’s marijuana industry and the frequency of testing violations should not be dependent on the state getting its act together.
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