Marijuana tracking system under consideration in Colorado

Regulators hope to implement heavier tracking of marijuana to minimize the amount of weed that is sold illegally.

With the passage of House Bill 10-1284, the Department of Revenue has been assigned the duty of regulating medical marijuana growth and sale.

A set of draft rules was released recently by the Colorado Department of Revenue regarding potential regulations that could soon be implemented.

Colorado is currently considering a cannabis-tracking system that would involve video surveillance and possibly fingerprinting. This tracking system would monitor medical marijuana to ensure proper oversight of all growth and sales.

Ryan Hartman, the owner of Boulder Wellness Center, said he believes the tracking system could potentially be a positive thing for dispensaries like his own, but only if it is done right.

“If everything works out perfectly, we could make more money,” Hartman said. “But, the people who are currently pushing the initiative just don’t understand what they are doing.”

Colorado legislators are seeking to implement a regulation system that tracks marijuana purchases from cultivation to sale. This would require the placement of cameras in the warehouses used for growing as well as at the counter where the marijuana is sold, according to the proposed bill.

Each medical marijuana center would have access to a new web-based tracking system. This would give dispensaries the ability to look up patients in order to check if they already have a primary care center.

More extreme tracking measures are also under consideration. Regulation may include fingerprint scanning and mandating that a camera be placed at a location where it can capture an image of an individual’s identification card when it is placed on the counter.

Colorado is the first state in the nation to consider such heavy regulation of marijuana purchases according to an AP news release.

Hartman said the movement has the potential to drive up the prices of medical marijuana. People may start buying weed on the black market because prices are too high and regulation is too heavy.

Thomas Mulvaney, an 18-year-old freshman open-option major, said he believes increased regulation is unnecessary.

“If it makes the prices [for legal marijuana] go up, that just makes it more expensive for the people who are doing it legally, which is stupid because they are the ones that are going along with the existing system” Mulvaney said. “It just seems like unneeded regulation.”

Some medical marijuana patients show little support for the tracking system. Marijuana sales are already regulated and extra tracking seems like an imposition on the patients’ freedom and privacy said Connor Griffin, a 19-year-old freshman open-option major, who possesses a cannabis card to take care of his stomach pains.

“They already check your name [when you buy it] and they write down how much you buy; I don’t think that they need to further regulate it,” Griffin said. “It is cool having a lot of freedom and being able to go to whatever dispensaries you want.”

There are two public hearings about the tracking laws planned in Lakewood for November and December, but the measure wouldn’t need lawmaker approval because it is an agency regulation, according to Colorado law.

Hartman said he believes heavy regulation of marijuana sales could have a huge effect on dispensaries and patients alike. Though it seems that decreasing the amount of marijuana on the black market is a positive thing, many believe this is not the way to do it. Hartman said he encourages people to speak out against the rules that are in consideration.

“I think something needs to be done,” Hartman said. “People need to speak up; it is still in the very early processes. If we just sit here and complain to each other, then nothing is going to happen.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Chelsea Barrett at Chelsea.barrett@colorado.edu.