Thursday, June 30, 2011
The (Ft. Collins) Coloradoan: New state regulations on medical marijuana that take effect Friday are welcome and overdue.
Although Colorado voters passed a constitutional amendment allowing for medical marijuana more than a decade ago, it’s only been in the past few years that grow operations and retail dispensaries or centers have exploded across the state. The lack of state regulation was responsible, in part, for that explosion.
The lack of regulation also has allowed some sketchy players to enter into the medical marijuana business, as their more reputable counterparts readily concede.
The new state regulations should help eliminate some of the chaos.
“Although this might be the most highly regulated and watched industry in this state, I believe it is for the safety of our customers and our businesses to have these things in place,” said Steve Ackerman, who owns Organic Alternatives and is president of the Northern Colorado Medical Marijuana Council. “I agree with it.”
Under the new regulations, medical marijuana retail and grow operators will have to install expensive video monitoring equipment that can be remotely monitored by regulators around the clock.
Employees will have to pass an FBI background check. And the movement of the product will be tracked from “seed to sale.”
Colorado voters have expressed their will in allowing the use of marijuana for legitimate medical purposes. But there is well-founded concern about abuses of that compassionate decision. These new state regulations will address that concern.