Colorado Marijuana Tasting Room Bill Passes House

Dispensary marijuana tasting rooms may soon be a reality in Colorado. The House passed the bill in a vote on April 10. This was the HB 1258’s third reading.

The fate of the legislation lies within the Colorado Senate, according to Westword. A few amendments to the original language have been made following rebuttal from Representative Susan Beckman, who wants education to be part of the tasting room sessions. She also said that the dispensary tasting rooms can’t be within 1,000-feet of anywhere that a marijuana-based business is banned.

Representative Jonathan Singer said, “It’s not about having a good time; it’s about preserving public safety. This regulates the establishment of consumer education. We have tourists coming here who don’t know what’s going on, who are at a mile-high altitude and then ultimately end up over-consuming.”

Over-consumption and impaired driving were concerns of several lawmakers. Some want more time to determine scientific doses to prevent impairment and proper impairment detection measures.

Representative Polly Lawrence said, “One of the concerns that I have is the fact that marijuana affects everyone a little bit differently. Someone may taste a little bit of a product, think that they’re fine, leave the establishment, get in their car…and then have the effects hit them. I think that there is just too much unknown in this.”

Despite the minimal opposition, other House lawmakers passed the legislation.

The House floor vote was 39-24.

Representative Jovan Melton, a co-sponsor of the bill, said, “Frankly, this has been a long time coming. We have been discussing how do we properly, safely and responsibly allow customers, especially medical marijuana patients, to be able to sample different products and find the right medication, [or] the right product for them. We’ve seen some local municipalities and governments try to fix this on their own, but it’s created a patchwork.”

If the bill passes and is signed into law, interested dispensaries would be required to apply for a special license to construct a consumption room. The local government must also approve the dispensary to have a tasting room. Both recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries would be permitted to have the special consumption rooms with appropriate licensing.

Recreational marijuana dispensaries could not admit medical marijuana patients under age 21. Medical marijuana dispensaries would only be permitted to cater to medical marijuana cardholders.