Implementation of Colorado Natural Medicine Initiative

The bill directs the Colorado department of public health and environment (CDPHE), in coordination with the department of revenue (DOR) and the department of regulatory agencies (DORA), to collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products, including data on the following topics:

• Law enforcement incidents involving the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products;
• Adverse health events involving the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products;
• Impacts on health-care facilities, hospitals, and health-care systems related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products;
• Consumer protection claims related to natural medicine and natural medicine products; and
• Behavioral health impacts related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.

Subject to available appropriations, CDPHE shall also collect relevant data and information related to the use of natural medicine from facilitators and healing centers. CDPHE is required to create and maintain a database of the information collected. CDPHE is prohibited from sharing the information and data collected, except in certain instances, such as sharing the information with agencies and departments for their regulatory purposes, and only to the extent the information is necessary for those purposes.

The operation and maintenance of the database is scheduled to repeal after 5 years. CDPHE may accept gifts, grants, and donations related to the collection of the data and information, but only from private or public sources that do not have a financial interest in the outcomes of the data collection.

The bill clarifies certain statutory provisions related to the issuance of owner licenses and employee licenses for natural medicine businesses. In existing statute, an applicant for an owner license or an employee license must submit to a fingerprint-based criminal history background check. The bill removes the fingerprinting requirement, but requires an applicant for a license to complete a name-based judicial record check.

The bill requires the state licensing authority to adopt rules related to product labels for regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine products and permits the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the types of regulated natural medicine products that can be manufactured.

The bill permits the governor to grant pardons to a class of defendants who were convicted of the possession of natural medicine.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)