A bill that would have restricted cannabis potency levels available to purchase for people under 25 could buy has been pulled by its sponsor in the Colorado Legislature.
Sen. Judy Amabile, D18, created “Intoxicating Substances & Social Equity Business,” legislation that would have implemented a new color-coded labeling scheme for marijuana products based on the amount of THC in them; and prohibited sales of cannabis products with more than 10% THC to consumers age 21 to 25, along with banning the sale of smokable pot with “added flavor” to that age group.
The bill also would have banned the production and sale of any natural medicine product (psilocybin, etc.) in “candy product, gummy, chocolate, or other confection” form or any with added flavors or sweeteners.
Health v. industry
The legislation was meant to protect young people from the impacts of high-potency THC, Amabile said in an interview with Boulder Weekly. Parents and health care professionals in recent years have raised concerns about such products exacerbating mental health issues, including increasing the risk of psychosis.
“We have all this information that says they’re causing harm, it’s hurting young people,” Amabile said. “The big idea was, let’s regulate marijuana with public health and public safety in mind, as opposed to promoting an industry.”
Amabile blamed the bill’s demise on industry pushback. She moved to have it suspended indefinitely after failing to win support from other members of the Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology.
“Just like any other industry in this building, they have a lot of power and influence,” she said. “The parents of the impacted young people don’t have a lobbyist, so it’s a lot harder for them to have a voice.”
The legislation’s other sponsors were Rep. Kyle Brown, D12, and Sen. Byron Pelton, D1.
The move was celebrated by industry professionals and the nonprofit advocacy organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).
“While well-intentioned, the bill threatened to undermine Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry and the critical role it plays in protecting public safety and supporting our state’s economy,” Mason Tvert, spokesperson for industry lobbying group Colorado Leads, wrote in response to an emailed request for comment.
‘We don’t really know’
Industry experts and others have questioned claims made by proponents of high-potency THC bans.
“Correlation does not equal causation,” said Robert Rush, an attorney representing SSDP, in a press release following the death of SB-076, “and there is no conclusive evidence that cannabis causes schizoaffective disorder or other severe mental health conditions.”
That’s essentially true, said two experts contacted by Boulder Weekly in July 2024, when a group of Boulder parents proposed a local ban on certain THC products.
“There are some data suggesting that in some people and some cases — especially in youth and younger people — high-potency cannabis [and] very heavy use, there is some association with potentially higher odds of psychotic episodes,” said Kevin Boehnke, a cannabis and psychedelics researcher at the University of Michigan.
At this point, “it’s an association, so we don’t really know what’s happening there,” added Dr. Jesse Hinckley, associate professor and co-direct of the CU Anschutz addiction biology lab.
“Is the cannabis doing something that’s doing that, or is it just an association? That’s kind of the $1 million question we don’t know.”
Due to its illegal status at the federal level, cannabis use has simply not been studied enough to draw definitive conclusions, Hinckley said — particularly in children and young adults. But there’s enough evidence to warrant caution and concern.
“THC … has not been associated with improvements in mental health,” he said. “It has been associated with poor health outcomes. The things that are associated with [use also have] more likelihood [to occur in people] using at a younger age.”
“We don’t think of any amount being safe in kids. Up until 25, there are risks.”
Those risks of adverse health outcomes also may increase with higher levels of THC, but again, the data isn’t there. Comprehensive studies from the 1990s and early ’00s were conducted when pot had 10% or less THC, Hinckley said. “Everything in Colorado is a higher concentration” than what has been studied and associated with harm.
Without stronger evidence, it’s difficult to craft policy, he added. While a cap on THC levels might be worthwhile, “we don’t have data to say what that number should be. We would be guessing.”
As science evolves, attempts to regulate cannabis products in the name of public health will likely continue. “We’ll be back to fight another day,” Amabile said.