{"id":74361,"date":"2024-04-18T05:07:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T13:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/04\/18\/colorado-senate-passes-bill-that-could-ban-social-media-users-who-post-positively-about-drugs-including-legal-psychedelics\/"},"modified":"2024-04-18T12:46:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:46:08","slug":"colorado-senate-passes-bill-that-could-ban-social-media-users-who-post-positively-about-drugs-including-legal-psychedelics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/04\/18\/colorado-senate-passes-bill-that-could-ban-social-media-users-who-post-positively-about-drugs-including-legal-psychedelics\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Senate Passes Bill That Could Ban Social Media Users Who Post Positively About Drugs\u2014Including Legal Psychedelics"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s Senate has approved a sweeping social media bill that, among other provisions, could force platforms to ban users for talking positively online about certain controlled substances<\/a>, such as state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups.<\/p>\n

The legislation, SB24-158\u2014a broad proposal concerning internet age verification and content policies\u2014would require social media platforms to immediately remove any user \u201cwho promotes, sells, or advertises an illicit substance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially that provision would have applied to all controlled substances under state law\u2014including state-legal marijuana<\/a>\u2014but an amendment last month from the bill\u2019s sponsor, Sen. Chris Hansen (D), includes language saying that \u201ca social media platform may allow a user to promote, sell, or advertise medical marijuana or retail marijuana to users who are at least twenty-one years of age\u201d so long as the content complies with state cannabis laws.<\/p>\n

The amended legislation would still apply to numerous other legal and illegal substances.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 30\u20131 to pass the revised measure on third reading, with four members excused.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the Senate Appropriations Committee also adopted two amendments to the bill, including one adding staff funding for the state attorney general\u2019s office and another that could make the act subject to voter approval in November.<\/p>\n

Critics say even with the marijuana-related amendment, the bill could create major problems for users trying to post benign\u2014and legal\u2014content around substances like cough medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe updated version would still prevent users from from promoting NyQuil or anti-anxiety medications among many others, even though it exempts marijuana,\u201d R Street Institute Fellow Shoshana Weismann, who first called out the potential problems in the bill\u2019s drug-related language<\/a>, told Marijuana Moment last month. \u201cAnd if you promote those medications, you will be reported to law enforcement. That is asinine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The amended\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0also still specifies that its restrictions apply to certain hemp products with more than 1.25 milligrams THC or a CBD-to-THC ratio of less than 20 to 1, as well as most other hemp-containing products intended for human consumption that are not \u201ca dietary supplement, a food, a food additive, or an herb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hansen, the bill\u2019s sponsor, has not responded to separate questions or follow-up emails from Marijuana Moment about whether his legislation intends to ban, for example, a 19-year old medical marijuana patient who posts about medical marijuana to their Instagram story, a user posting to Facebook that the use of a Schedule V over-the-counter cough syrup helped them feel better or even potentially promotion by Gov. Jared Polis (D) of the state\u2019s legal psychedelics industry<\/a>\u2014as a plain reading of the bill might suggest.<\/p>\n

Hansen said nearly a month ago that he was \u201cworking on answers\u201d to those questions. He did not immediately respond to a follow-up email on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Kevin Matthews, director of the campaign in Denver that made the city the first in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin<\/a>, said on Facebook after Wednesday\u2019s vote that the bill would \u201cmake it nearly impossible to even simply talk about plant and fungi medicine on any social media network without state monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measure\u2019s language \u201cseverely handicaps the emergent psychedelic ecosystem at all levels to educate the public,\u201d Matthews continued, \u201cand gives broad powers to a state apparatus to take legal action against individuals for expressing their opinion online.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Social media companies would be required to update policies and post them publicly on or before July 1, 2025 under the proposal. Updates to social media policies would also need to be posted online within 14 days of implementation.<\/p>\n

Companies would also be mandated to submit reports annually to the state attorney general a statement \u201cof whether the current version of the published policies contain definitions and provisions relating to illicit substances,\u201d according to a legislative summary of the bill provided to a Senate committee.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Colorado marijuana regulators also touted industry successes from the past year and\u00a0promoted their new hospitality rules for the industry<\/a>, including increased sales limits for cannabis hospitality businesses that allow on-site use.<\/p>\n

One of the things they touted is a rule about online sales that took effect last August. Customers must still physically pick up the marijuana products from retailers, but now they can\u00a0browse and electronically purchase cannabis online<\/a>\u00a0ahead of visiting the store.<\/p>\n

Polis has praised the state\u2019s reputation on marijuana and even said in January that\u00a0Colorado is \u201cleading the nation\u201d on psychedelics<\/a>, just as it did with cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado was the first state to legalize recreational use of cannabis, setting a standard for innovation and safety and economic mobility that\u2019s been replicated by states across the nation and countries across the world, who come here to learn what Colorado did right,\u201d Polis said in his latest State of the State address. \u201cNow, thanks to our voters, we\u2019re once again leading the nation on natural medicine, unfreezing 50-plus years of stifled research to learn about the potential benefits for the people of our state and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for federal reform, the governor said about marijuana earlier this month that while legalization is the ultimate goal, incremental rescheduling and cannabis banking reform are important \u201cdominoes\u201d that could help pave the way. He said Colorado continues to have \u201cvery strong conversations with the White House\u201d about the need for policy change.<\/p>\n

Colorado has seen more than $15 billion in legal marijuana sales<\/a> since opening day a decade ago. The state\u2019s nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff (LCS) released a report last August showing that Colorado generated more tax revenue from cannabis than alcohol or cigarettes<\/a> during the last fiscal year. The Colorado Department of Revenue\u2019s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED), meanwhile, recently touted an\u00a0ID verification compliance rate of 99 percent at the state\u2019s cannabis businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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DeSantis Again Rips Into Marijuana Legalization, Warning November Ballot Measure Would Be \u2018Not Good For Families\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Colorado Senate Passes Bill That Could Ban Social Media Users Who Post Positively About Drugs\u2014Including Legal Psychedelics<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Colorado\u2019s Senate has approved a sweeping social media bill that, among other provisions, could force platforms to ban users for talking positively online about certain controlled substances, such as state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups. The legislation, SB24-158\u2014a broad proposal concerning internet age verification andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74362,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74361\/revisions\/74362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}