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.


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policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
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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.*

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