Colorado Governor Signs Marijuana And Psychedelics Bills Into Law

Colorado’s governor has signed several bills amending rules for the state’s regulated marijuana and psychedelics programs.

One of the measures approved by Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Tuesday would reduce certain regulatory restrictions on cannabis businesses.

Another empowers the governor to grant pardons to people who’ve been convicted of psychedelics-related offenses and also revises implementation rules and data-tracking provisions for the state’s 2022 voter-approved psychedelics legalization law.

The marijuana-focused measure from Reps. William Lindstedt (D) and Jenny Willford (D) as well as Sens. Julie Gonzales (D) and Robert Rodriguez makes it so any worker employed by a cannabis retailer with an occupational license could receive product samples on up to 20 days per month—an expansion of current law that stipulates = cultivators and manufacturers can only provide samples to managers of retailers for research and development purposes.

The measure would also revise reporting requirements for marijuana licensees, mandating that regulators adopt rules to ensure licensees maintain documents such as childproof packaging certifications, testing records, recall records, advertising records, standard operating procedures and more.

“If a license holder is required to maintain books and records in the seed-to-sale inventory tracking system, the license holder need not maintain duplicate copies of the books and records,” it says. “If a license holder is substantially noncompliant with regulatory requirements, the division may require the license holder to maintain additional records.”

The bill would also repeal current state law that makes it a class 2 misdemeanor for a person to have an undisclosed controlling beneficial ownership, passive beneficial ownership or indirect financial interest in a cannabis license or engage in transfer of ownership without prior approval.

The cannabis legislation was significantly amended during the legislative process, however, removing provisions that initially would have doubled the amount of marijuana adults could buy from licensed retailers and allowed cannabis shops to hold promotional events.

The psychedelics bill that the governor also signed on Tuesday, from Sen. Matt Ball (D) and Rep. Lisa Feret (D), authorizes Polis or future governors to grant clemency to people with convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized for adults.

It would also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”

That would include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to psychedelics.

Prior to passage by the Senate, a committee amendment removed a government appropriation to pay for data collection and tracking, replacing a reference to “ongoing appropriations” with “appropriations or gifts, grants, or donations.” Ball said at the time that lawmakers have a letter of intent from the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative—a nonprofit that supports advancing psychedelic therapy—to fund the program for the entirety of its five-year duration.

The bill would earmark $208,240 in those funds for the governor’s office of information technology. “To implement this act, the office may use this appropriation to provide information technology services for the department of public health and environment,” the text version says.

The legislation would further amend rules around licensing and ownership of psychedelic healing centers. For example, it removes a requirement for fingerprint background checks for owners and employees of licensed facilities, making it so they would only be subject to a name-based criminal background check.

It additionally “requires the state licensing authority to adopt rules related to product labels for regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine products and permits the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the types of regulated natural medicine products that can be manufactured.”

The proposal overall has support from an array of advocates, including psychedelic medicine proponents as well as groups more skeptical of legalization. Public commenters at a hearing seemed to agree that the bill’s data collection provisions would help observers both inside and outside Colorado better understand the outcomes around regulated psychedelics.

Last week, Polis touted the fact that Colorado’s legal psychedelics program is “fully launched” now that regulators have issued licenses for each part of the psilocybin supply chain.

A third bill signed on Tuesday by the governor, from Sens. Jeff Bridges (D) and Barbara Kirkmeyer (R), along with Reps. Shannon Bird (D) and Emily Sirota (D), changes how marijuana tax revenue is allocated.

It would specifically remove requirements that certain cannabis funds by transferred to the University of Colorado Board of Regents and the public school capital construction assistance fund. The new law also means that a greater portion of marijuana revenue will be retained by the state, with less being sent to local governments.

—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Earlier this session, the governor signed into law a bill that would allow a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal government authorizes its use.

While Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics for adults 21 and older through the voter-approved ballot initiative, the newly enacted reform will make it so drugs containing an isolated crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin can become available under physician prescription.

Polis signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.

Separately in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and outlawed a variety of psilocybin products died following the lead sponsor’s move to withdraw the legislation.

Pennsylvania Governor Is ‘Hopeful’ Lawmakers Will Send Marijuana Legalization Bill To His Desk By End Of This Month

Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.