An array of new cannabis laws went into effect around the county on New Year’s Day.

California

Closest to home here in California, the largest changes are the protections for off-the-clock cannabis use going into effect. Signed by the governor last year, Assembly Bill 2188 prohibits employers from discriminating against anyone for non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in their urine, hair, or bodily fluids. It also allows employees who experience discrimination to take civil action for damages and other relief against their employers.

There are many safety-sensitive jobs AB 2188 doesn’t apply to in addition to those that need to comply with the Drug-Free Workplace Act. 

Senate Bill 700 is another law that will provide relief to the state’s employed cannabis users. It disallows employers from asking someone about their past marijuana use. It also has similar executions to AB 2188. 

California NORML’s longtime Executive Director, Dale Gieringer, weighed in just before the new bills took effect. 

“Testing or threatening to test bodily fluids for cannabis metabolites has been the most common way that employers harass and discriminate against employees who lawfully use cannabis in the privacy of their own homes,” Gieringer said, “These new laws will end that practice without impacting workplace safety. Numerous studies have found that workers who test positive for cannabis metabolites have no higher risk of workplace accidents.”

Nevada

Outside of California, one of the other laws making news as it goes into effect is the expansion of personal use limits in the state of Nevada. The Silver State has opted to more than double the amount of marijuana a person is allowed to possess. The limit jumped from one ounce to two and a half. Most people are looking at this one through the lens of tourism, the higher limit will allow people to buy more weed at once when they visit Las Vegas and lead to more tax revenue even if they don’t finish the weed before they head home. That is true, but another positive is for Nevada residents in more rural areas who may have to drive a couple of hours to have access to legal cannabis. This means those people will have to make 2.5 times fewer trips. 

Colorado

Colorado is getting expiration dates. This is cool, but it also comes down to the way the product moves through the inventory chain. The new standard will have products expire nine months from the date they were packaged. The industry was able to get it pushed up to nine months from the six-month “use-by” date that the state was pushing. 

This all sounds good for sure, but there are some nuanced ways to look at it. If someone takes some super fresh flower and packages it immediately, packages another batch of that flower a month later, and then sits on the rest of it for a few months, what is the point of the packaging dates?

The real play in that situation is a combination of harvest dates and packaging dates that way the consumer can know how long the grower or distribution company was sitting on the flower before they go ahead and spend $60 bucks on it. That seems pretty fair. 

Pot laws are only as meaningful as their enforcement. There are a whole bunch of rules in many places that regulators just don’t give a damn about because they have so many more pressing issues on their plate to deal with. Just look how many people in California get away with using cartoons to market their pot, even if they are adult-themed. In the case of California’s new laws, it will be up to the consumer to hold people accountable for discriminating against their cannabis use.