Colorado's medical marijuana program is shrinking.
over HB 1317’s implementation. She closed down her clinic for a week to learn how to comply with the new law, and she says she's still unsure of the legislation’s long-term effects.
Dr. Eric Eisenbud, a physician for Cohen Medical and Relaxed Clarity clinics, says he doesn’t feel at risk for persecution by the feds, but takes exception to losing his ability to diagnose his patients, an ability no other licensed physicians have lost in Colorado.
Eisenbud says he believes that proponents of HB 1317 had good intentions in trying to protect children, but that lawmakers didn’t engage with the medical marijuana community enough before passing the bill. Nor did the CDPHE provide adequate guidance for doctors and patients after the bill passed, he adds.
Reports of proposed potency caps on the THC in regulated marijuana products had been leaking out of the Colorado Capitol for years before HB 1317 was introduced, and the first attempt in 2021 was much more aggressive than the version that ultimately passed.
Colorado health professionals had declared a state of emergency in youth mental health last year, listing marijuana use as one of several contributing factors. Although youth use of marijuana in the state has remained flat since recreational legalization, use of extracted marijuana products doubled from 2015 to 2019, according to the CDPHE.
Faced with a potency cap or the compromises of HB 1317’s rules and restrictions, the commercial pot lobby chose the latter. Since recreational sales began in Colorado on January 1, 2014, registered patient numbers have been on a slow decline, dropping from 111,020 to 86,460 by the end of 2021, according to CDPHE data. Despite the drop in patients, medical marijuana sales totals remained relatively constant, with users gravitating toward the stronger products, cheaper prices and lower taxes on the medical side. Still, commercial interest in medical has slowed significantly over the past seven years.
Jason Warf, director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council, doesn't think that's a coincidence. Warf, whose business members are mostly located in Colorado Springs , says the recreational pot industry intentionally turned its back on medical patients in 2021.
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