Michael Elliott, executive director of Colorado’s Marijuana Industry Group, reflected “On The Spot,” on DPTV, said who is in the White House after the 2016 elections could go a long way to determining the future of pot in Colorado and other states that have legalized it. The Obama administration has been hands-off in enforcing federal laws as long as those states show they’re regulating it responsibly.
Elliott noted, however, how pot has moved from the shadows to a mainstream political and business entity in Colorado.
The legislature passed 13 pot bills this past session, including one to renew the state’s regulations on medical marijuana in a “sunset review” process that reauthorized the rules that were first passed five years ago. The important bill got final approval on the last day of the session. It was tied up briefly because of an amendment passed on the House floor by Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, R-Colorado Springs, to restrict those who had pot felonies — before pot was legal — from working in the industry. The amendment before both chambers passed the reauthorization on May 6.
“It fixed some problems and passed nearly unanimously,” Elliott said. “Almost every Democrat, almost every Republican voted in favor of it, and five years ago, when the original thing passed, it was much more controversial. It was much closer votes. We had Democrats and Republicans that were against it.
“I think it just goes to show how much has changed this last many years.”
Elliott also explained some of the problems in regulating medical marijuana like recreational marijuana, a paradox that mystifies many customers, who, like dispensary owners, have to play by different rules over essentially same pot based solely on why the customer wants it, for relief or for pleasure.
Dividing the two, however, let’s local governments decide whether to ban sales of one or the other, he said.
“If you have a shortage on the recreational side, or a shortage on the medical side, you can’t trade between the two of them,” Elliott said. “Part of that seems a little silly in the way the law is written.”
Legislators this past session addressed testing to put medical and recreational marijuana on closer-to-equal footing.
Other states that are looking to Colorado for guidance on how to adopt and regulate legal marijuana, and Elliott said there are plenty they could learn. He thinks Colorado could have done a better job at the beginning to figure out how to regulate edibles’ dosage and packaging to distinguish it from products that aren’t laced with pot.
“We don’t want people to overdo it, get sick and have a real unpleasant time,” Elliott said. “That piece of it, no one really saw coming when we jumped into recreational sales back on Jan. 1, 2014. Other states can look at that.”
