Colo. to revisit edible marijuana rules after deaths

DENVER — State regulators are revisiting the rules surrounding serving sizes for edible marijuana products in the wake of two high-profile death cases involving the use of pot-infused cookies and candies.

A state-appointed task force will meet Wednesday in Aurora to "discuss and consider reasonable amounts of active THC in retail marijuana products in proportion to product serving size."

In March a 19-year-old student died after jumping from a hotel balcony. According to friends, he ate an entire cookie containing 65mg of THC, the active drug in marijuana.

The state considers 10mg of THC a serving of the drug but has no requirement that edible products be packaged in single-serving portions.

Recreational marijuana can contain a max of 100mg (10 servings) per item, but it is legal for 100mg to be packed into a small piece of candy.

That potency is available for the of edible marijuana candy police say a Denver man consumed before fatally shooting his wife.

The Department of Revenue, which oversees legal marijuana sales and manufacturing, says in the meeting announcementthat the discussion is "in advance of a formal rule-making process," indicating that it intends to revise these rules.

A Department spokeswoman declined to comment on specifics of any new rules it intends to pursue, saying the regulators want to have the discussion with the task force first.

Options could include requiring edible products to be easily separable into 10mg pieces, like a perforated chocolate bar, or perhaps individually wrapped in servings no larger than 10mg.

Some makers of edible marijuana products are already developing 5-10mg products, hoping to create a market for single-dose edibles.

Marijuana advocates were cautiously optimistic about the issue being brought up for formal discussion.

"Coloradans are used to eating a whole cookie. They're used to eating a whole brownie," said Christian Sederberg, a lawyer who worked on Amendment 64 and a member of the task force meeting on Wednesday. "We need to make it easy for the consumer to understand what the product is that they're taking to ensure their safety."

Sederberg says he'd rather see more stringent regulations on edibles adopted with cooperation from the industry now than wait for more bad headlines that could prompt a crackdown that ends the sale of edibles altogether.

While edibles are specifically protected in the language of Amendment 64, the state is given virtually unlimited power to regulate them.

The task force meeting will take place at Children's Hospital in Aurora and includes members who work in edibles manufacturing, the healthcare sector, and law enforcement.