Pubdate: Tue, 26 Feb 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold
Page: A2

MARIJUANA TASK FORCE ALMOST DONE

Proposals Focus on Protecting Children, Adding Consumer Info

The possible rules for Colorado's forthcoming recreational-marijuana 
industry have begun to take shape, after a marathon meeting of a 
state task force.

Under proposals endorsed Monday by the state's Amendment 64 
Implementation Task Force, marijuana products would have to be sold 
in child-proof packaging and not contain any logos or ingredients 
designed solely to appeal to children. They could not be mixed with 
nicotine. Marijuana and pot-infused edibles would have to come with 
labels that would detail the items' potency and also disclose the 
pesticides or fertilizers used in cultivation.

"We're trying to give the consumer the information so that he or she 
can make the right decision," said Dr. Chris Urbina, the head of the 
state Health Department and a task-force member.

Recreational-pot shops could sell only marijuana and 
marijuana-related items such as pipes. They could not advertise 
anywhere that kids would likely see their ads, such as television, 
radio, billboards or general-distribution newspapers. And 
recreational-marijuana stores would not be able to make any health 
claims about their products.

The task force also adopted proposed policies that would create an 
"unbiased, fact-based" state website to educate people about 
marijuana and that would create a committee to identify marijuana 
topics that Coloradans need to know more about. Still up in the air 
is how to pay for it. "All the things we're approving today cost a 
lot of money," task-force co-chairman Jack Finlaw, Gov. John 
Hickenlooper's chief legal counsel, lamented during the five-hour hearing.

The task force is proposing a first draft of Colorado's 
recreational-marijuana rules, a never-before-done challenge that the 
group was given about three months to do. Monday's meeting was the 
task force's second-to-last. It will meet one more time, on Thursday, 
before it must turn over its report to the legislature.

Lawmakers are expected to pull the task force's recommendations into 
one big bill that will have to clear the legislature by the end of 
its session, on May 8.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom