DENVER — A new report released Monday found the group in charge of inspecting retail marijuana stores needs to do a better job of enforcing the rules. The audit highlighted several problems, including failing to check if some stores were selling to people under 21.
The Colorado Office of the State Auditor concluded the Marijuana Enforcement Division needs to improve inspections of these stores and enforcement of the rules and laws.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division conducts inspections that focus on a licensed store's compliance with laws and rules. The group also checks to see if stores are selling to people under 21. They do this by involving operatives under age 21 who try to buy marijuana from a store.
Auditors said the division needs to improve processes for prioritizing inspections and taking disciplinary action when laws or rules are broken.
The report found between fiscal years 2019 and 2022, the division didn't inspect 36% of new retail marijuana stores (40 out of 112 stores) within one year of approving those licenses.
The division creates monthly reports listing stores that are at greater risk of breaking marijuana laws and rules to help prioritize inspections. Auditors found the division didn't inspect 182 of the 567 licensed retail marijuana stores that appeared on one of those monthly reports during the four years reviewed under the audit.
According to the audit, the division didn't complete a check on underage sales for 75 of the 629 stores that appeared on a monthly report.
In-person inspections, the audit said, went way down during the pandemic. They've started to go back up since 2021, but by 2023, the number still hasn't reached pre-pandemic levels.
The audit found the division didn't conduct any underage compliance checks between April 2020 and February 2021. The division said that even as pandemic restrictions began to ease, they struggled to hire underage operatives, which continued to hinder their ability to conduct underage compliance checks.
"The problems we found during this audit could erode public trust in the Division and Colorado's retail marijuana industry because they create the perception that the Division is not regulating the industry consistently across the state," Legislative Audit Supervisor Laura Russell said.
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