Pubdate: Sun, 10 Apr 2016 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: Michael Elliott Note: Michael Elliott is executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group. Should We Limit Pot Potency? NO: IT'S AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE MARIJUANA ILLEGAL Since 55 percent of Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, Colorado has experienced record economic growth, record tourism, and record job creation. In addition, Denver was recently named the best city to live in the United States by U.S. News and World Report based on factors such as quality of life, low crime rate, and job prospects. The doomsday predictions of the prohibitionists never came to pass. Colorado is experiencing near record low traffic fatalities, and teen marijuana usage has remained relatively stagnant. In other words, Coloradans have enhanced their civil liberties and created a new, legal industry while maintaining public safety and boosting the economy. Despite this good news, marijuana prohibitionists are trying to overturn the will of the voters. With some polls showing more than 60 percent of Coloradans now support legalization, prohibitionists know that an overt effort to make marijuana illegal again would likely fail. So their plan is to undermine the program and make it impossible for legal businesses to operate. Their proposal would ban all marijuana above 15 percent THC. And because most growers have spent years breeding strains that exceed this arbitrary threshold, growers would be forced to destroy their strains and start over, something that's not economically or practically feasible. In addition, the ban would essentially destroy the market for concentrates, which are the distilled essential oils of the cannabis plants and are used to make many products such as tinctures, sprays, edibles, drinks, topicals and transdermal patches. Concentrates can be dosed and consumed without burning. Thus, the ban would also likely force people to smoke and could eliminate many products people use for chronic pain, skin conditions and more. So most legal marijuana would be banned, legal businesses would be forced out and, in essence, Amendment 64 would be overturned. It is important to remember that Colorado has more than 500 pages of marijuana law and rules that are regularly updated. These regulations created a closed-loop system that requires local and state licensing, establishes "good moral character" standards for ownership and employment, and mandates rules for security and surveillance aimed at eliminating illicit activity. The regulations also require testing for potency and harmful contaminants, child-resistant packaging, potency dosing on edibles, and extensive labeling that identifies the THC percentage of the product. These regulations allow consumers to know exactly what they are purchasing. According to a new study, 70 percent of marijuana sales in Colorado are done through licensed, regulated and taxed businesses instead of the black market. If this ban passes, marijuana sales would move back into the black market. Unlike the licensed businesses, black market dealers don't pay taxes, test their products, or label. Outlandish restrictions of the regulated market only empower the black market dealers, who don't check IDs and have no qualms about selling to minors. The best way to prevent children from accessing marijuana is to continue to weaken the black market. In addition, this ban will have a major negative effect on Colorado's record economic growth, and could mean that many of the more than 20,000 people employed at licensed marijuana businesses lose their jobs. Colorado created a program that is being replicated across the world. While there is still work to be done, every issue has a solution through thoughtful regulations and public education. Don't be deceived by the prohibitionists. This initiative is simply their latest attempt to repeal marijuana legalization in Colorado. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom