Colo. lawmakers weigh bill to reclassify pot ahead of potential federal crackdown

Colorado lawmakers are weighing a bill to allow the state’s marijuana industry to reclassify pot ahead of a potential federal crackdown, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

If passed, the law would allow marijuana growers to reclassify their recreational pot as medical pot in the event that the Trump administration adopts a stricter drug enforcement policy.

The potential reclassification of marijuana would be a costly change for the state. The AP noted that Colorado could lose more than $100 million a year due to a lower tax rate on medical pot.

{mosads}”If there is a change in federal law, then I think all of our businesses want to stay in business somehow. They’ve made major investments,” state Sen. Tim Neville (R), the lawmaker who sponsored the bill, told the AP.

Neville said entrepreneurs in the state “need to be able to convert that product into the medical side so they can sell it.”

According to the latest available data, the state had as many as 827,000 marijuana plants in the retail system in June of last year, with more than half in the recreational market.

“This bill allows the industry to know there is something after tomorrow, whatever tomorrow may bring,” Neville said.

The bill passed a committee in the GOP-led Colorado Senate last week. The AP said it’s unclear if it could pass the full state Senate or Democratic-led House.