The Laws in Colorado are constantly being updated. I must admit I am not as up to date as I should be on the topic but my excuse is that "I have a guy that does that part for me". (Thanks to my boy MilkyTrichomes for being my legal geek) I can tell you that each patient is allowed to grow six plants with a basic Dr. recommendation. Some docs will increase your plant count if they feel you need more cannabis for your condition. Whatever your total plant count is will also determine the Docs reccomendation on how much medicine you can posess. When you grow your crop you can have HALF of your count in bloom and the other half "immature". That's basic stuff I know is accurate. Caregivers are supposed to register in some counties/cities. Caregivers can only have six assigned patients. After six patients you must apply for dispensary paperwork. That is a whole new set of fees and paperwork. The restrictions on locations for a dispensary are very tight. Dispensaries cannot produce any edibles or tinc or BHO unless they have an "Infusables" license. I believe they can make bubble hash because its not as dangerous. The biggest change that rocked the boat was a law requiring each dispensary to produce 70 percent of the buds the sell each year. The other 30 percent can only be purchased from Wholesale distributors with dispensary paperwork. How can they show where it came from? Well... MMED (Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division) requires ALL cannabis to be on camera at ALL TIMES. This means that when you pop seeds or cut a clone EACH seed/clone gets registered into a computer with a number. If the seed/clone is discarded it gets removed from inventory and must be soaked in bleach water ON CAMERA before being put into the trash. As the plants grow they are ALWAYS on camera. At harvest you have to weigh the whole plant, then trim it down... Then weigh the sticks, the leaves and the buds and put it all into a computer. The trash must be bleach soaked on camera. The trim must be checked in if not thrown out. EVERYTHING is accounted for. When cannabis leaves a location it is checked out with the computer system and MANY details are given, including delivery driver and any passengers in the vehicle. When it arrives it is checked into the computer system and put into the MMED data base.
Many smaller shops have not caught up to the requirements but the MMED is letting them build as they go. The cameras the MMED requires are not cheap. They require a shop to be FULLY covered with cameras that they can access at any time.
I hope this makes sense. I have been wrong before so please excuse me if I misunderstood something. I follow the rules I know I need to follow to stay out of trouble. I'm taking bong rips of Plush Berry and it's late. Ask away if I skipped anything!