{"id":74909,"date":"2024-05-02T12:45:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T20:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/02\/colorado-bill-that-would-have-muzzled-social-media-speech-on-state-legal-psychedelics-and-other-drugs-is-dead-for-the-year\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T00:45:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T08:45:18","slug":"colorado-bill-that-would-have-muzzled-social-media-speech-on-state-legal-psychedelics-and-other-drugs-is-dead-for-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/02\/colorado-bill-that-would-have-muzzled-social-media-speech-on-state-legal-psychedelics-and-other-drugs-is-dead-for-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Bill That Would Have Muzzled Social Media Speech On State-Legal Psychedelics And Other Drugs Is Dead For The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The sponsor of a Colorado bill that would have forced social media platforms to ban users for talking positively online about certain controlled substances<\/a>\u2014including as state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups\u2014abruptly shelved the bill this week.<\/p>\n

Advocates say their pushback to the proposal \u201ccaught the attention of the legislature\u201d and convinced lawmakers to reverse course.<\/p>\n

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

Though an earlier amendment from the bill\u2019s Senate sponsor, Sen. Chris Hansen (D), made a carveout around statements advertising state-legal marijuana to adults over 21, the amended bill would have still applied to numerous other legal and illegal substances.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the bill<\/a>\u2018s sponsor in the House, Rep. Meghan Lukens (D) shelved the measure in the Education Committee, a move that will \u201cpostpone indefinitely\u201d its consideration, according to the legislature\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, this bill simply needs more time,\u201d Lukens said during the committee hearing, according to a Westword<\/a> report. \u201cI am optimistic, after work during the interim, that I can come back with a strong, effective version of this bill. A version that protects all young people from bad actors on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Matthews, director of the campaign in Denver that\u00a0made the city the first in the U.S. to decriminalize psilocybin<\/a>, called the development \u201ca stunning reversal of events\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to supporters, Matthews relayed that a \u201csmall yet mighty plant medicine coalition descended upon the Capitol grounds during lunchtime chanting \u2018Our Freedom of Speech is Under Attack, Protect the Plants Protect the People,’\u201d adding that the coalition\u2019s actions\u2014which also included a sign-on letter<\/a> to House lawmakers\u2014\u201dcaught the attention of the legislature and convinced lawmakers that SB24-158 was flawed policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Matthews said it was a \u201cbittersweet victory,\u201d however:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to lay over was announced at the beginning of committee, and the committee chair decided to allow heart-wrenching testimony only from proponents of the bill\u2014teenagers who struggled with doom-scrolling addiction and lack of connection to the outside world, grieving parents who lost children due to the availability of dangerous illicit substances on social media,\u201d and others, he said, who together highlighted \u201csome of the deeply personal, real-world issues and challenges we face with access to harmful content on social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

R Street Institute Fellow Shoshana Weismann, who\u00a0first called out the potential problems in the bill\u2019s drug-related language<\/a> and last month described the amended version as \u201casinine\u201d for forbidding statements around even some over-the-counter medications, said she was pleased to see the concerns addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sincerely grateful to the sponsors for taking criticism of their efforts so seriously,\u201d Weismann told Marijuana Moment. \u201cThat takes a great deal of humility and it\u2019s pretty rare to see. If they are still interested in pursuing their ideas in the future, I hope they reach out to critics to workshop their ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the legislation made its way through House committees, its Senate sponsor, Hansen, did not respond to questions from Marijuana Moment about whether the legislation intended 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 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 in March that he was \u201cworking on answers\u201d to those questions.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, social media companies would have been required to update policies and post them publicly on or before July 1, 2025. 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

Lawmakers said that in light of the bill\u2019s other provisions intended to protect young people on social media from firearms and sexual victimization, they hope to revisit it when the legislature reconvenes next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be slow, but I hope we get there soon,\u201d committee chair Rep. Barbara McLachlan (D) said, according to Westword.<\/p>\n

Separately, Colorado marijuana regulators earlier this year touted industry successes in 2023 and promoted 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 noted 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 browse 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

Colorado has seen more than $15 billion in legal marijuana sales<\/a>\u00a0since opening day a decade ago. The state\u2019s nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff (LCS) released a report last August showing that\u00a0Colorado generated more tax revenue from cannabis than alcohol or cigarettes<\/a>\u00a0during 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

Two recent polls, meanwhile, indicate that more than a decade after Colorado voters approved the ballot measure making their state the first in the U.S. to launch legal adult-use marijuana sales, a strong majority of those in the state feel the change has been a positive one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Top House Democrat Says Marijuana Rescheduling Is A \u2018Step In The Right Direction,\u2019 While GOP Leader Opposes Reform<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Colorado Bill That Would Have Muzzled Social Media Speech On State-Legal Psychedelics And Other Drugs Is Dead For The Year<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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The sponsor of a Colorado bill that would have forced social media platforms to ban users for talking positively online about certain controlled substances\u2014including as state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups\u2014abruptly shelved the bill this week. Advocates say their pushback to the proposal \u201ccaught theContinue 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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74909"}],"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=74909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74910,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74909\/revisions\/74910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}