Cannabis Trade Council

Services

POLITICAL SERVICES
CTC is involved in Colorado cannabis politics in a big way, and we do so in the interest of all our members and patients in Colorado. Our team has been shaping Colorado cannabis politics for over 20 years, so we have the most experience in the state. CTC works to identify and promote cannabis-friendly politicians, defeat harmful legislation, and lobby for the passage of new laws that protect patients and industry. CTC also supplies the most complete and accurate information about the ever-changing government requirements regarding medical marijuana businesses.

State Legislative Affairs
The General Assembly convenes again on January 12, 2011 for 5 months, and CTC will be actively engaged in politics down at the Capitol Building for the entire session. Lawmakers will try to amend existing medical marijuana laws. CTC is actively lobbying for sponsors of several bills that would be beneficial to medical cannabis businesses. In addition, CTC will lobby against bills that seek to over-regulate the medical marijuana industry. We work with the most experienced lobbyists in the state to work the legislative process to our advantage.

Regulatory Affairs
The Colorado Department of Revenue and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are both in the process of writing hundreds of pages of new rules governing the medical marijuana industry. CTC keeps the industry informed of the best ways to have input on the process so that you can further the success of your business. Our Standards and Ethics committees are working on putting together regulations that the industry would like to see. It is imperative that the cannabis industry creates an organization that can self-regulate in a reasonable fashion, to avoid over-reaching laws. CTC believes the standards that the cannabis industry develops for itself will provide a much higher level of safety and certainty than anything written by politicians and government bureaucrats.

Federal Legislative Affairs
CTC is working with federal legislators on the issue of state's rights for medical marijuana and whether federal law supersedes a state Constitutional amendment.

Local Government Project
Medical marijuana is under attack at a local level, through restrictive zoning and outright bans. CTC can help you work with your local government to address the issues facing your business on a local level. These services include providing draft regulations and giving educational presentations. CTC can also provide direct democracy training to show local citizens to use ballot initiatives or referenda to overturn local bans and improve their local laws.

Cannabis Constitution Project
Fatal flaws in Amendment 20 have allowed the state legislature to regulate medical marijuana in an overly-restrictive and unreasonable fashion. This can be fixed by amending the Constitution with a well-written cannabis law that protects patients and business owners alike and that cannot be subverted by the state legislature. CTC has joined together with other statewide reform groups to place a ballot initiative on the 2012 ballot in Colorado to amend the Constitution with a law that makes sense.

LEGAL SERVICES
CTC provides a voice for our members in the legal system. CTC is working with the Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project to overturn the unconstitutional parts of HB 10-1284 and SB 10-109. CTC works with the best medical marijuana attorneys in the state, who provided CTC members with special discounts. CTC is also maintains a comprehensive legal library for cannabis business owners to get all their legal questions answered in one place.

ADVISORY COMMITTEES

CTC has many volunteer advisory committees working to develop industry standards and ethics and shape the future of cannabis. Click here for more information on the Cannabs Trade Council's Advisory Committees.

OTHER SERVICES

Public Relations
CTC provides a voice for the cannabis industry and our members in the press. We actively engage the media to produce fair and accurate reports on the issues vital to the industry.

Education
We host educational presentations for our members and the public, including seminars on compliance training, business issues, technology and other areas of interest to the cannabis industry.

Financial Services
Medical marijuana businesses can't find financial institutions that will do business with them. CTC is working hard to solve this banking crisis from several different angles to benefit all our members.