Is dabbing causing mental health problems for Colorado kids?Lindsey B. King •
Editor’s note: After 5280′
s July issue went to press, Governor Jared Polis signed into law HB 21-1317, which requires further study of the possible health effects of high-THC cannabis and aims to reduce access to cannabis among teenagers. This article has been updated to reflect the new law.
There’s no shortage of sensational, hide-the-children, marijuana-is-the-devil’s-lettuce stories on the internet. This is not one of those stories. Colorado is, after all, the cradle of recreational cannabis in this country, and by most accounts, the destruction of civilized society wreaked by commercialized medical and recreational pot was greatly exaggerated. Given the opportunity to comment, most Coloradans roughly 71 percent, according to a 2020 survey say legalization has been mostly or completely successful. However, that number leaves plenty of room for dissent, and in that remaining 29 percent
The 2021 session brought new challenges, as seen in a measure drafted by Representative Yadira Caraveo, a Democrat from Adams County. A leaked version of her Safe & Healthy Marijuana Use proposal called for a ban on any form of legal marijuana, recreational or medical, testing over 15 percent THC, as well as a number of restrictions to the state s medical marijuana program, including a requirement that medical marijuana patients only be allowed to purchase a pre-designated dosage and allotment of certain products decided by a physician, similar to a drug prescription.
That proposal was never introduced. But along with House Speaker Alec Garnett, Caraveo is among the sponsors of House Bill 21-1317, Regulating Marijuana Concentrates, which is moving along in the Colorado Legislature. According to its summary: The bill requires the Colorado School of Public Health to do a systematic review of the scientific research related to the physical and mental health effects of high-p
A new bill proposed by Alec Garnett, Colorado s Speaker of the House, calls for more packaging restrictions for commercial marijuana concentrate and tighter rules for medical marijuana patients and physicians, including a required THC dosage amount and tracking system for patient purchases.
After months of negotiations around limiting the potency of legal marijuana products, late last week lawmakers and a powerful portion of the pot industry reached a compromise bill. And while that proposal doesn t include a potency limit, it does contain a new set of guardrails, studies and tracking provisions intended to reduce youth marijuana use and diversion to the black market.
After almost disappearing during a lengthy debate over the potency of legal marijuana products, a bill solidifying medical marijuana and dispensary practices embraced during the COVID-19 pandemic survived an early vote in a legislative committee.
Both telemedicine for medical marijuana patients and online ordering of legal pot have been allowed in Colorado for over a year, thanks to executive orders issued by Governor Jared Polis in March 2020. Those orders will eventually end, but Representative Matt Gray s House Bill 1058 proposes to make the practices permanent. Still, the measure has a long hill to climb.
Gray s bill, which was introduced nearly three months ago, could still become ensnared in an ongoing debate over the amount of THC in commercial marijuana concentrates. While a draft of a measure to limit potency was leaked to
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Here’s a phrase you’re going to start hearing more: “beneficial electrification.”
That phrase refers to goals of the Eagle County Climate Action Collaborative. That group, which includes members from Eagle County, local towns and nonprofit organizations, is working to by 2030 reduce the county’s greenhouse gas emissions 50% from 2014 levels.
Much of that work will involve electrifying transportation and the valley’s buildings.
Colorado is one of the states most quickly adopting electric vehicles. According to a 2018 study, electric vehicles’ market share increased more than 66% from 2017. Still, 2018 electric vehicle sales in Colorado accounted for just 2.6% of all vehicle sales.