KCUR reports on Colorado efforts
to standardize marijuana industry

Colorado made history when it opened up licensed marijuana retail shops this year. Aside from just legalizing the purchase of smoke-able marijuana, it also means pot brownies have the potential to be big business. Food products infused with marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, THC, are available in stores across the state.

Marijuana, though, is still considered illegal by the federal government. The existing food safety system, which relies heavily on support from federal agencies, can’t ensure that marijuana-infused foods are safe.

Colorado’s marijuana regulators, located within the Department of Revenue, continue to roll out new standards for the recreational marijuana industry. The most recent batch focuses attention on food safety, minimum sanitary standards, labeling guidelines and laboratory testing requirements. Essentially, the state is building an entire regulatory structure from scratch. And other states considering legalizing marijuana sales are taking notice.

Read the full story on KCUR’s website.

Harvest Public Media, based at KCUR, is a collaborative public media project that reports on important agriculture issues in the Midwest. You can read more about the project on their website. KCUR-FM is a service of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.