Colorado lawmakers, worried that some marijuana cultivators may be labeling their products as organic when they don’t qualify as such, will on Friday consider a bill to establish state organic certification guidelines, according to the Associated Press.
The federal government already regulates organic labeling, but that doesn’t mean much for cannabis, which of course remains illegal at the national level.
Colorado’s Department of Agriculture would be tasked with finding another entity to draft the organic regulations.
Organic certification has become a hot-button issue in recent months, with Colorado authorities confiscating thousands of marijuana plants because of suspected illegal pesticide contamination, but then later being sold with labels touting them as natural or organic. Colorado’s attorney general even opened an investigation last year into cannabis companies that label their product “organic.”
Cannabis cultivators seem initially split on the issue, with some welcoming official certification, but others worried about the cost that could come with it.