These issues “present serious risks to public safety, market integrity and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry.”
By Christopher Osher, ProPublica and Evan Wyloge, The Denver Gazette
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
Colorado regulators announced on Monday that they plan to crack down on companies that illegally sell cheaper and potentially hazardous hemp products as marijuana.
The state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division said it had detected “regulatory compliance issues” that threaten to unravel the marijuana industry in the nation’s first legal retail market.
These issues “present serious risks to public safety, market integrity and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry,” the agency stated in an industry bulletin.
A Denver Gazette and ProPublica investigation in January reported that, despite Colorado being one of the first states to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products, the legislature and regulators failed to adopt many regulations that other states have employed to keep hemp products off marijuana dispensary shelves.
Creating the liquid distillate for vapes and edibles from hemp is much cheaper than using marijuana, giving companies a competitive advantage.
But regulators say they’re worried because manufacturers rely on toxic and potentially hazardous chemicals to convert
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