If you’ve ever thought about visiting Colorado in order to smoke some dank legal bud and haven’t gotten the chance yet, it’s looking like you might get the chance to purchase more than you planned on (so save your money!). A part of renewing the laws implemented in 2013 after Amendment 64 passed in 2012 includes quite a few revisions – things we’ve talked about before like edibles and all the issues surrounding them is a major one; but one change has gone particularly unnoticed until recently.
That change isn’t a rewrite like some of the others either – lawmakers simply crossed out the original provision that only allowed out of state residents to purchase up to a quarter ounce at a time. The original intention behind this was to reduce the possibility of people taking the marijuana out of state when they left – however, it appears that lawmakers are no longer concerned by this (even though it was the basis of the lawsuit against them which was ultimately dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court).
There is also a provision being added that would allow dispensaries to sell other products, including edibles, lotions and other THC infused products, which would be hard to regulate in the same way. One shop owner pointed out that if they had to figure out how much they could sell by THC content in comparison to the same of a quarter ounce they “…have to hire math professors to work in the dispensaries” – Mike Slaugh.
When it comes to marijuana floating into one state from another, regulators and law enforcement alike believe that the underground market is likely the culprit behind the plant being transferred across state lines, rather than the small amounts that may escape on tourists. This is actually a likely theory as those who were in the underground market before might have started selling to an out of state crowd to keep in business and others may even grow their own and sell the excess either out of state or to someone else who will then do so.
Of course, again, that last part is only a theory on my end, but it doesn’t seem unlikely. In the end, until legalization has been underway long enough to stomp out most of the black market and the plant is legal in all states, this will be a problem we continue to see no matter what. In the end, it comes down to the fact that regulation is the only option, but after so many years of an unregulated market having a chance to grow, it will take a while to see it come to an end.
