In a move reflecting the newfound power of the marijuana movement, a proposed initiative to limit Colorado’s legal marijuana market was withdrawn by its drafters.
For consumers, the most alarming part of Amendment 164 was the limiting of marijuana potency to 16 percent. To put that into perspective, the average potency for Colorado pot is 17.1 percent and as high as 62.1 percent for extracts, according to a study on Marijuana Equivalency in Portion and Dosage.
On the business side, around 80 percent of the state’s lawfully retailed cannabis products would be deemed illegal if initiative 139 reached the ballot in November. It would have forced most cannabis companies to shut down overnight.
“The restrictions on Cannabis purity would have been similar to limiting the alcohol content by volume on beer, wine and liquor. It would be the equivalent of only having 3.2 beer available. The industry is thankful that common sense has prevailed,” said Cannabis Business Alliance Executive Director Mark Slaugh.
Edibles food manufacturers were also up in arms about the part which would have forced them to produce individually packaged, single-serving products.
The failed attempt at limiting the medicine so many people herald Colorado for is a win for patients too. The amendment would have made some prescribed medical marijuana illegal. Such a change in legislation would have denied medicine for everyone from veterans suffering from PTSD to children with debilitating conditions, such as epilepsy and spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
Republican state Rep. Kathleen Conti introduced the initiative. She said she it was in an effort to protect accidental ingestion by kids until more studies are done on protecting the brain development of children.
Since 2012, the Centennial State’s voters have overwhelmingly supported a legal cannabis market under Initiative 64 which regulates marijuana like alcohol.
