State audit finds lax enforcement of marijuana laws in Colorado

The state agency in charge of making sure marijuana dispensaries aren't selling to kids isn't doing its job, according to a new state audit.

A parent group pushed for the audit after learning some dispensaries were selling to kids who admitted they were underage.

The state auditor says the Marijuana Enforcement Division didn't do underage compliance checks -- or even inspect -- most dispensaries for four years.

The parent group, Blue Rising Together, initially pushed for a bill last year that would have required at least one underage sting operation per dispensary per year, but it died in a senate committee after all but one lawmaker voted against it.

At the time, the Marijuana Enforcement Division insisted it was doing its job, but the audit tells another story. 

It finds 75% of dispensaries weren't inspected at all between 2019 and 2022. What's more, the state auditor says, of those that were inspected and found in violation of the law, more than 60% received a warning only.

"We don't have compliance checks and we're not certain that these stores are not selling to kids. Our kids are getting a hold of extremely high potency products that are extremely dangerous and have been shown to be connected to psychosis, to schizophrenia, to depression, to anxiety," says Dawn Reinfeld, executive director of Blue Rising Together.

Reinfeld pushed for the audit along with state Sens. Chris Hansen and Kevin Priola after an open records request found the Liquor Enforcement Division had done 25 times more underage compliance checks as the Marijuna Enforcement Division in 2020 even though it had half as many full time employees.

The state auditor made a number of recommendations aimed at increasing inspections and compliance going forward.