Changes to Colorado’s cannabis industry are on the horizon. The Marijuana Enforcement Division has been holding meetings for industry stakeholders and government officials in order to iron out the details of recently passed laws and new regulations, and the public is encouraged to attend those meetings and provide input.

In the first day of an ongoing series of working-group meetings, cannabis lawyers and business owners, doctors, parents and government officials discussed how to implement HB 1034, HB 1261, SB 187 and SB 192, all of which were passed this last legislative session and signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper. As the agency that oversees the pot industry, the MED is looking at a range of ways to enforce these new laws, and there’s no shortage of them.

Although the meetings will continue through the end of the month, big changes for the industry have already been discussed. Here are five issues that came up at the most recent meeting:

Employee training
Rule r231 was added as an amendment to SB 187 partly because of the nation’s growing proclivity for legalizing cannabis. The new rule puts a program in place for dispensaries hiring and training employees who have been transferred from out-of-state branches. It may also loosen restrictions on employee badge designations in hopes of streamlining training and reducing required supervision. Currently, only employees with a key badge (owners, managers, supervisors) can be in a licensed marijuana business by themselves or without supervision. Support employees (most budtenders, cultivators and day-to-day staff) can’t be alone in the business without supervision, and the definition of supervision can change from locality to locality. [Read more at Westword]