DENVER – Colorado is moving to curb the nation’s most generous marijuana allowance for medical patients growing their own plants.

The state House gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill limiting marijuana patients 16 plants in their homes, down from 99.

The measure aims to make it harder to grow pot outside the taxed and regulated commercial pot system.

Colorado regulators have tried for years to stop people from growing large amounts of pot without state taxation or oversight. But because Colorado’s constitution gives people the right to grow as much pot as their doctors recommend, the state has had a hard time making that happen.

“We need to close this loophole,” said Rep. KC Becker, a Boulder Democrat and sponsor of the bill.

This year’s effort would say that marijuana patients can’t have more than 16 plants in a residential property. The change would force those patients to either move to an industrial or agricultural area, or shop at a dispensary. [Read more at the Coloradoan]