ABSTRACT
In 2014, to much fanfare, Colorado implemented the world’s first legal and regulated seed-to-sale cannabis market for adults. As a commercial model, the approach is not ideal from a public health perspective, although strict regulation has some advantages over continued criminalization of cannabis. The chapter consists of three parts. Part 1 includes: (1) latest market insights around patterns of consumption in the State; (2) a brief review of the emerging literature on the Colorado recreational cannabis market (CRCM); (3) the public health framework employed in Colorado; and (4) a summary of the Retail Marijuana Code (RMC) and its evolution. In Part 2, tensions between public health and commercial profit are explored with a focus on: (1) constitutional constraints on public health best practice; (2) marketing and advertising, most notably at the coalface of regulating controls by for-profit firms; (3) budtenders, the sales people in retail stores; and (4) the public health risks associated with the application of chemical pesticides for protection of commercial crops. Part 3 brings the material together to highlight important lessons learned from the CRCM for regulators in other jurisdictions considering the legalization of cannabis for adult use.
