DENVER — Colorado’s marijuana industry will see some new rules and regulations in 2024.
The biggest change is marijuana products will now have a “use by” date label. The date — which is for quality and freshness, not expiration — has to be within nine months of packaging.
The regulation was passed in 2022 but regulators set the effect date to 2024 to give the industry time to adapt.
“I think it's important that we recognize that this week marks the 10-year anniversary of legal recreational sales in Colorado, which was the first in the nation. As I look back, we got a lot of things right and a few things wrong,” said Truman Bradley, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.
Online marijuana sales became legal in the fall but required customers to pay in person. Online payments can legally begin on Jan. 8.
Bradley said it’s a step in the right direction but doesn't expect the change to have a major impact on sales.
“This is not going to be a magic bullet to help the industry solve all of its problems but it's an indication that, you know, Reefer Madness just needs to go away,” Bradley said.
In 2024 the Marijuana Enforcement Division will have more authority to embargo and destroy regulated marijuana that is a health and safety risk.
New regulations also allow for hospitality businesses to sell more marijuana products per transaction — up to one ounce of flower, no more than eight grams of concentrate and no more than 100 milligrams of retail marijuana. There are only a handful of marijuana hospitality businesses in the state and only two in Denver.
“People want to consume in public, whether that's going on a date night to a get high and paint class or whether it's going to a bar to consume cannabis and watch the Broncos. The state is doing what it can at the state level but the real holdup is at the local level,” Bradley said.
