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Colorado Lawmakers Approve Bill To Allow Medical Marijuana Use In Hospitals By Terminally Ill Patients

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1 month ago

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Colorado House lawmakers have passed a Senate-passed bill allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana in healthcare facilities such as hospitals— though advocates have warned that the measure’s latest change undermines its original intent.

Weeks after advancing in the Senate, with amendments, Sen. Kyle Mullica’s (D) legislation cleared the House Health and Human Services Committee on a 10-2 vote Thursday. It has now been referred to the Full House Committee, potentially ahead of schedule.

Reps. Sheila Lieder (D) and Lisa Feret (D) are co-sponsoring the House bill, and they pushed for the reform before the committee took public testimony on the final version.

“He brought this bill to us from the patient’s perspective,” Lieder said Thursday. “We want to ensure continuity of care when patients are treated in a hospital or health center.”

“There have been many participants in this Senate bill. Several amendments were passed in the Senate committee without opposition,” he said. “That really puts us in a good place with hospitals, especially given that participation is not mandated and permissive.”

According to Feret, the legislation is “an excellent opportunity for people to have autonomy in deciding how they want to spend their time on this earth and how they want to treat their pain and give them that autonomy.”

“Some of the amendments that came in softened it a little bit, and some people are not happy that it was softened,” he said. “But that’s the beauty of making political commitments in this building is that we try to get to a good place.”

Several advocates testified about these changes, arguing that making hospitals allow the use of medical cannabis in their facilities would essentially be the reform’s intent.

Jim Bartell, the father of a young patient in California who passed it and who inspired the policy known as Ryan’s Law in his home state and several other states, urged committee members to return the bill to its original language and use the original language of “must” and “must” to avoid creating a network of health care facilities that allow or prohibit the use of medical cannabis.

“For families like mine, this legislation isn’t theoretical. It’s part of ethical, compassionate care,” she said.

Ken Sobel, an attorney for the Cannabis Nurses Network, said “the order is very important because it is time wasted looking for a facility that allows the use of cannabis that literally jeopardizes your ability to be with your close and loving family member.”

“Changing ‘must’ or ‘shall’ removes that fundamental protection of Ryan’s law,” he said.

Lieder, one of the bill sponsors, said testimony that he had just learned of the amendments which the defenders oppose. So while he was led to agree to the legislation, he said he will “be happy to continue” working with his colleagues to tackle the issue.

Underneath SB 26-007healthcare facilities would be allowed to develop guidelines for the use, storage and administration of medical marijuana.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) would prohibit requiring compliance with the policy as a condition of obtaining or renewing a license or certificate under the bill. Healthcare facilities would be allowed to suspend the policy change if they risked enforcement action by a federal agency.

“In FY 2026-27, the workload of CDPHE’s Division of Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services will increase minimally to provide outreach and education to licensed health facilities about the use of medical marijuana,” a fiscal impact analysis states. “The department may also request legal services, provided by the Department of Law, related to rulemaking and implementation. This workload may be done within existing appropriations.”

Other Senate-passed amendments add additional enforcement language that would not require health care facilities to store or dispense medical cannabis and limit legal liability for health care facilities that permit the use of medical marijuana.

—
It’s Marijuana Time tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

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—

Meanwhile, in Colorado, the state saw more than $1 billion in marijuana sales — a milestone the governor announced in December —.

Gov. Jared Polis (D) also said last month his state did not have to join a lawsuit supporting a federal ban on the possession of guns by people who use marijuana that recently went before the US Supreme Court, and he personally opposes the state attorney general’s “legal position on this.”

Max Jackson’s photo.

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State hemp license applications end April 30

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23 hours ago

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April 19, 2026

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Those wishing to grow and process hemp this year must apply for a license from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) by April 30. Each license is valid until December 31 of the year it is issued. Graduates must reapply annually to continue in the program. An MDA license is required for individuals and businesses.

So far, about 30 people have applied for the 2026 MDA license, compared to 84 applicants last year.

These licenses are for the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp only. The hemp license application is not for adult use or for growing or selling medical cannabis. The application is also not intended for the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Information on adult use and medical cannabis is available Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) website.

There are applications of industrial hemp MDA website. Along with the online form, first-time applicants and authorized representatives must submit fingerprints and pass a criminal background check.

There are also several updates for the 2026 season. The extraction of cannabinoids from hemp is now regulated by the OCM, meaning that anyone interested in this type of processing will need a separate licence. The rates have also changed. The base cost of a hemp license is now $400, with an additional $250 per growing or processing location. The previous $250 processor license fee has been removed, but a 5% surcharge now applies to upgrades to MDA’s technology systems.

All authorized representatives listed on an application must pass a background check before being licensed. In addition, each lot of hemp must undergo THC testing before harvest, and each official sample collected by the MDA costs $100.

Source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture










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Colorado Marijuana Officials Announce Crackdown On Sales Of Hemp Products Amid ‘Risks To Public Safety’

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23 hours ago

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April 18, 2026

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These issues “pose serious risks to public safety, market integrity, and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry.”

By Christopher Osher, ProPublica and Evan Wyloge, The Denver Gazette

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Colorado regulators announced Monday that they plan to crack down on companies that sell cheaper, potentially dangerous, illegal hemp products as marijuana.

The state’s Division of Marijuana Enforcement said it had identified “compliance issues” that threaten to dismantle the marijuana industry in the nation’s first legal retail market.

These problems “pose serious risks to public safety, market integrity and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry,” the agency said in an industry newsletter.

An investigation by the Denver Gazette and ProPublica in January reported that despite Colorado being one of the first states to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products, the legislature and regulators. he failed adopting many of the rules that other states have used to keep hemp products off the medical marijuana shelves.

Creating evaporative and edible liquid distillate from hemp is much cheaper than using marijuana, giving companies a competitive advantage.

But regulators say they are concerned that manufacturers are relying on toxic and dangerous chemicals to convert the non-toxic CBD compound that is predominant in hemp into THC, the psychoactive compound that makes people feel high. Regulators have banned this chemical synthesis, saying they fear chemical residues could remain in the finished product, putting consumers at risk.

Colorado manufacturers have taken advantage of loopholes in the state’s testing and enforcement system to continue using hemp to make products marketed as marijuana, even though doing so is against state law, according to regulatory studies, previous agency bulletins and testimony and lab results contained in several lawsuits.

In 2024, state investigators found that a popular brand of marijuana sold at dispensaries was not only derived from hemp, but also contaminated with methylene chloride, the chemical often used to convert CBD from hemp into THC. Marijuana is banned by Colorado regulators and banned for most uses by the US Environmental Protection Agency because it can cause liver and lung cancer and damage the nervous, immune and reproductive systems.

Ware House, the company that manufactured these vaporizers, relinquished its marijuana license in response to the investigation. Ware Hause’s owner, Thanh Hau, and the company’s lawyer declined to comment.

Congress passed a law last November that bans nearly all hemp products nationwide starting this fall, but it’s unclear how the government will enforce the ban, and hemp growers are reeling.

In December, President Donald Trump issued an executive order telling his aides to work with Congress to develop rules that could allow certain hemp products.

The Colorado Division of Marijuana Enforcement made the announcement Monday newsletter agency officials stated that they “identified and investigated evidence” that marijuana companies are using illegal practices and prohibited methods to manufacture products, instead of relying on marijuana, which is supposed to be monitored for safety.

The Colorado Hemp Association and the Colorado Hemp Education Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Beyond safety concerns, the bulletin also noted that some marijuana manufacturers and growers are avoiding marijuana tax obligations through “a pattern of non-compliance” in sales operations they report to the state’s “seed-to-sale” tracking system, which tracks marijuana from the initial planting to the sale of flower, vapes and other products at dispensaries.

Companies misrepresent marijuana sales at nominal prices, in some cases as low as $1 per pound for unprocessed marijuana material, the newsletter said. Those products typically fetch more than $600 per pound on the market, depending on the category of marijuana, according to industry experts.

That fraudulent reporting has stolen millions of dollars in marijuana taxes from state and local governments, industry experts say, though no official estimate is available.

The agency said it will follow emergency rules to address these issues. The bulletin emphasized that suspicious and abnormal transactions and inventories detected by the state will prompt investigations. Companies caught using hemp or other illegal material passed off as marijuana face “immediate product embargo, license suspension or revocation, significant fines and law enforcement,” regulators warned.

The Denver Gazette and ProPublica have tried to track the anomalous transactions, but the Division of Marijuana Enforcement’s sales transaction records, even those that do not identify the companies, are not public.

Marijuana industry representatives met with the division’s regulators late last month to push for a more aggressive response to the agency’s hemp replacement, even though it could affect some companies in the industry. The representatives argued that bad actors are unfairly driving down prices and shifting the tax burden to manufacturers and growers who are trying to comply with the rules. The newsletter was released a couple of weeks after that meeting.

“The division is also considering additional changes to its testing and screening protocols” to detect illegal products and prohibited methods, and may require additional laboratory tests “if needed for products throughout the supply chain,” the agency’s bulletin said.

This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network Denver Magazine. Sign up for Submissions to receive stories in your inbox every week.

user photo WeedPornDaily.

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Nascent medical cannabis industry aims for growth

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2 days ago

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April 18, 2026

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The medicinal cannabis sector is struggling to take root, and another specialist processing plant is set to close. But with current regulations and a new collective industry in mind, New Zealanders are promising to reduce their reliance on imported medicinals.

There was great excitement when medicinal cannabis was legalized and then regulated in 2020, with the hope of growing the domestic sector and serving patients here and abroad. However, since then, several companies have closed their doors, including Greenfern Industries, Cannasouth and, most recently, Helius Therapeutics.

The latter plans to close the East Tāmaki plant, affecting 65 workers. It is one of the few medicinal cannabis factories in the entire nation that has a specialized processing certificate called “Good Manufacturing Practice” (GMP).

Medical Cannabis Council executive director Sally King said that under current rules, most growers did not have such certification, and could only sell raw ingredients, not processed products such as more profitable cannabis capsules.

Read more at the town










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