Colorado State Rep. Yadira Caraveo isn’t sure how the draft version of her cannabis regulatory bill leaked ahead of the 2021 legislative session, but she’s eager for the debate to take shape. Among the legislative proposals is one that’s perked the ears of many in the industry: a 15% cap on THC content.
KOAA reports: “According to Rep. Caraveo, 15% THC was selected as an initial figure because of data from other countries which shows anything greater than 15% can be concerning in terms of effects on the developing brain.”
She acknowledged to the news station that the 15% benchmark is a “starting point” and not something that the industry should expect as the final word in this legislation. Hearings on the bill are under way, with more expected soon.
Watch the full February hearing below.
The main idea, Caraveo said, is to curb effects on underage consumption. She cited anecdotal mental health issues in a February hearing on the bill.
“A lot of things have been said in public, including the inaccurate statement that I’m trying to decimate the industry in Colorado,” she told fellow lawmakers at the time. “That is not my goal. This is the start of a conversation about public health issues that I’m seeing as a doctor and that are being reported not only by CDPHE but by other physicians, parents and advocates who have reached out to me and contributed to my knowledge base on this issue.”
(CDPHE is the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The department issued a report last year that got into some of these issues, outlining the current state of affairs as it pertains to THC concentration in many cannabis products and THC-related sales trends.)
Colorado NORML has come out against Caraveo’s bill.
Other proposals in the draft legislation include further crackdown on “looping,” which involves customers making return trips to dispensaries in order to work around daily purchase limits, as well as a prohibition on nationally recognized brands selling wax, shatter and other cannabis concentrates. Caraveo is also interested in tracking the physician-patient relationship more closely in the state’s medical cannabis market, requiring doctors to keep a detailed record system to shed light on dosing.
