2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 44 - REVENUE - REGULATION OF ACTIVITIES (§§ 44-1-101 — 44-50-1001) › MARIJUANA REGULATION (§§ 44-10-101 — 44-12-101) › Article 10 - REGULATED MARIJUANA (§§ 44-10-101 — 44-10-1401) › Part 7 - UNLAWFUL ACTS (§§ 44-10-701 — 44-10-702) › Section 44-10-701 - Unlawful acts - exceptions

(1)
Except as otherwise provided in this article 10, it is unlawful for a person:
(a)
Except in the licensed premises of a marijuana hospitality business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-609
or a retail marijuana hospitality and sales business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-610
:
(I)
To consume regulated marijuana or regulated marijuana products in a licensed medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business; or
(II)
For a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business to allow regulated marijuana or regulated marijuana products to be consumed upon its licensed premises;
(b)
With knowledge, to permit or fail to prevent the use of his or her medical marijuana patient registry identification by any other person for the unlawful purchasing of medical marijuana.
(2)
It is unlawful for a person to:
(a)
Buy, sell, transfer, give away, or acquire regulated marijuana or regulated marijuana products except as allowed pursuant to this article 10 or section 14 or section 16 of article XVIII of the state constitution;
(b)
Have a controlling beneficial ownership, passive beneficial ownership, or indirect financial interest in a license pursuant to this article 10 that was not disclosed in accordance with section
44-10-309
; except that this subsection (2)(b) does not apply to banks or savings and loan associations supervised and regulated by an agency of the state or federal government, or to FHA-approved mortgagees, or to stockholders, directors, or officers thereof;
(c)
Exercise any privilege of a license issued pursuant to this article 10 that the person does not hold;
(d)
Exercise any privilege associated with holding a controlling beneficial ownership, passive beneficial ownership, or indirect financial interest in a license that was not disclosed in accordance with section
44-10-309
; or
(e)
Engage in transfer of ownership without prior approval as required by this article 10, including but not limited to:
(I)
A proposed transferee operating a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business before a transfer of ownership request for that business is approved in writing by the state licensing authority; or
(II)
A current controlling beneficial owner, passive beneficial owner, or proposed transferor failing to retain full responsibility for a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business identified in the transfer of ownership application until the transfer request is approved in writing by the state licensing authority.
(3)
It is unlawful for a person licensed pursuant to this article 10:
(a)
To fail to report a transfer required by section
44-10-313 (11)
;
(b)
To knowingly adulterate or alter, or to attempt to adulterate or alter, any samples of regulated marijuana or regulated marijuana products for the purpose of circumventing contaminant testing detection limits or potency testing requirements;
(c)
To use advertising material that is misleading, deceptive, or false, or that is designed to appeal to minors;
(d)
To provide public premises, or any portion thereof, for the purpose of consumption of regulated marijuana in any form, except in the licensed premises of a marijuana hospitality business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-609
or a retail marijuana hospitality and sales business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-610
;
(e)
To have in possession or upon the licensed premises any regulated marijuana, the sale of which is not permitted by the license, except if it is for purposes of recycling;
(f)
To have on the licensed premises any regulated marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia that shows evidence of the regulated marijuana having been consumed or partially consumed, except:
(I)
If it is for purposes of recycling; or
(II)
In the licensed premises of a marijuana hospitality business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-609
or a retail marijuana hospitality and sales business licensed pursuant to section
44-10-610
;
(g)
To violate the provisions of section
6-2-103
or
6-2-105
;
(h)
To abandon a licensed premises or otherwise cease operation without notifying the state and local licensing authorities at least forty-eight hours in advance and without accounting for and forfeiting to the state licensing authority for destruction all regulated marijuana or regulated marijuana products;
(i)
To offer for sale or solicit an order for regulated marijuana in person except within the licensed premises;
(j)
To buy regulated marijuana from a person not licensed to sell as provided by this article 10;
(k)
To sell regulated marijuana except in the permanent location specifically designated in the license for sale; or
(l)
To burn or otherwise destroy regulated marijuana or any substance containing regulated marijuana for the purpose of evading an investigation or preventing seizure.
(4)
It is unlawful for any person licensed to sell medical marijuana pursuant to this article 10:
(a)
(I)
To sell medical marijuana to a person not licensed pursuant to this article 10 or to a person not able to produce a valid patient registry identification card, unless the person has a copy of a current and complete new application for the medical marijuana registry administered by the department of public health and environment that is documented by a certified mail return receipt as having been submitted to the department of public health and environment within the preceding thirty-five days and the employee assisting the person has contacted the department of public health and environment and, as a result, determined the person's application has not been denied. Notwithstanding any provision in this subsection (4)(a)(I) to the contrary, a person under twenty-one years of age shall not be employed to sell or dispense medical marijuana at a medical marijuana store or grow or cultivate medical marijuana at a medical marijuana cultivation facility.
(II)
If a licensee or a licensee's employee has reasonable cause to believe that a person is exhibiting a fraudulent patient registry identification card in an attempt to obtain medical marijuana, the licensee or employee is authorized to confiscate the fraudulent patient registry identification card, if possible, and shall, within seventy-two hours after the confiscation, turn it over to the state health department or local law enforcement agency. The failure to confiscate the fraudulent patient registry identification card or to turn it over to the state health department or a state or local law enforcement agency within seventy-two hours after the confiscation does not constitute a criminal offense.
(b)
To require a medical marijuana store or medical marijuana store with a medical marijuana cultivation facility license to make delivery to any premises other than the specific licensed premises where the medical marijuana is to be sold.
(5)
It is unlawful for any person licensed to sell retail marijuana or retail marijuana products pursuant to this article 10:
(a)
To sell or permit the sale of retail marijuana or retail marijuana products to a person under twenty-one years of age; or
(b)
To distribute marijuana or marijuana products, with or without remuneration, directly to another person using a mobile distribution store.
(6)
It shall be unlawful for a physician who makes patient referrals to a licensed medical marijuana store to receive anything of value from the medical marijuana store licensee or its agents, servants, officers, or owners or anyone financially interested in the licensee, and it shall be unlawful for a licensee licensed pursuant to this article 10 to offer anything of value to a physician for making patient referrals to the licensed medical marijuana store.
(7)
A peace officer or a law enforcement agency shall not use any patient information to make traffic stops pursuant to section
42-4-1302
.
(8)
(a)
It is unlawful for a person to engage in any act or omission with the intent to evade disclosure, reporting, record keeping, or suitability requirements pursuant to this article 10, including but not limited to the following:
(I)
Failing to file a report required under this article 10 or causing or attempting to cause a person to fail to file such a report;
(II)
Filing or causing or attempting to cause a person to file a report required under this article 10 that contains a material omission or misstatement of fact;
(III)
Making false or misleading statements regarding the offering of an owner's interest in a medical marijuana business or retail marijuana business; or
(IV)
Structuring any transaction with the intent to evade disclosure, reporting, record keeping, or suitability requirements pursuant to this article 10.
(b)
The state licensing authority may deny, suspend, revoke, fine, or impose other sanctions against a person's license issued under this article 10 if the state licensing authority finds a violation of this subsection (8) by the person, the person's controlling beneficial owner, passive beneficial owner, indirect financial interest holder, or any agent or employee thereof.
(9)
A person who commits any acts that are unlawful pursuant to this article 10 commits a class 2 misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided in section
18-1.3-501
. For violations that would also constitute a violation of title 18, the violation shall be charged and prosecuted pursuant to title 18.
Amended by 2021 Ch. 462, § 786, eff. 3/1/2022.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 340, § 21, eff. 1/1/2020.
Added by 2019 Ch. 315, § 5, eff. 1/1/2020.
L. 2019: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 19-224), ch. 2922, p. 2922, § 5, effective 1/1/2020; (1)(a), (3)(d), and (3)(f) amended, (HB 19-1230), ch. 340, p. 3126, § 21, effective 1/1/2020. L. 2021: (9) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 3328, p. 3328, § 786, effective 3/1/2022.
(1) This section is similar to former §§ 44-11-901 and 44-12-901 as they existed prior to 2020.
(2) Section 803(2) of chapter 462 (SB 21-271), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing this section applies to offenses committed on or after March 1, 2022.
2021 Ch. 462, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).