Is weed legal in Colorado?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is legal in Colorado. (C.R.S. § 18-18-406. Offenses relating to marijuana and marijuana concentrate - definitions, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 18)

Retail (recreational) marijuana was legalized for adults 21 and older by Amendment 64 to the Colorado Constitution, article XVIII, section 16, approved by voters in November 2012.

Colorado voters wrote this into the state constitution in 2012, and the criminal statutes were amended afterwards to match. The code that remains grades what happens above the limit, and it counts concentrate on its own terms.

Medical status

A full medical cannabis program runs in Colorado, serving patients the program registers. (C.R.S. § 25-1.5-106. Medical marijuana program - powers and duties of state health agency, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 25)

The clearest thing a registry card changes in Colorado is the garden, because a registered patient or primary caregiver can qualify for as many as 24 plants where an adult stops at 6. Medical centers hold their own license from the Marijuana Enforcement Division, so the shop serving patients is a different licensee from the retail store.

Hemp-derived products

Colorado permits the sale of hemp-derived products and limits which ones. (Industrial hemp)

6 CCR 1010-24, the Colorado Hemp Product and Safe Harbor Hemp Product Regulations, is the regulation cited for this rule; its own text could not be read because its Secretary of State page is a document index rather than the rule text. C.R.S. 35-61-101 separately defines industrial hemp, for cultivation purposes, as cannabis at no more than three-tenths of one percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis.

The 0.3 percent figure Colorado defines is written for the crop in the field, so it answers what a farmer may grow more than what a shop may stock. The product rules themselves sit with the Department of Public Health and Environment, which is where a question about a specific item belongs.

Home cultivation

Colorado allows an adult to grow up to 6 plants at home. (Home grow laws)

Up to six plants per Colorado resident 21 or older, with as many as three flowering at one time. C.R.S. 18-18-406(3)(a)(II)(A) separately caps cultivation at twelve plants on or in a residential property whatever the number of adults living there, unless a local law expressly permits more; a locality may also set a lower limit. A registered patient or primary caregiver may qualify for a twenty-four-plant exception under C.R.S. 25-1.5-106(8.5)(a.5)(I) or (8.6)(a)(I.5).

Your town has the last word on this one, because a Colorado locality can raise the residential cap or set it below the state figure. The flowering half of the rule shapes how a grow is timed, because only 3 of the 6 may be in flower at any moment.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as Colorado states it: Not more than two ounces of marijuana. (C.R.S. § 18-18-406. Offenses relating to marijuana and marijuana concentrate - definitions, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 18)

The offence for possessing two ounces or less, formerly C.R.S. 18-18-406(5)(a)(I), was repealed in 2021. Possessing more than two ounces remains an offence under 18-18-406(4), which grades the penalty by amount and treats marijuana concentrate separately.

On buying, Colorado states: A retail marijuana store may not sell more than one ounce of retail marijuana or its equivalent in retail marijuana products, including retail marijuana concentrate, during a single transaction to a person. (C.R.S. § 44-10-601. Retail marijuana store license - rules - definitions, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 44)

Nonedible, nonpsychoactive retail marijuana products, including ointments, lotions, balms, and other nontransdermal topical products, are excluded from the one-ounce transaction limit.

The store's cap is written per transaction, so it measures one purchase rather than a running daily total. Concentrate counts toward that ounce as its equivalent while nonedible topicals fall outside it, so two items of the same weight can land differently at the counter.

Minimum age

You must be 21 or over to buy without a medical card. (C.R.S. § 44-10-601. Retail marijuana store license - rules - definitions, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 44)

You must be 18 or over to hold a card and buy for yourself. (C.R.S. § 25-1.5-106. Medical marijuana program - powers and duties of state health agency, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 25)

A patient under eighteen may still be served through a parent who registers as primary caregiver, subject to two physicians diagnosing a disabling medical condition and written consent from each parent residing in Colorado.

Between 18 and 21 the registry is the only lawful counter, and a card is the only thing that opens it. For a patient under 18 Colorado requires written consent from each parent living in the state, which is a higher bar than one guardian's signature.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a licensed recreational dispensary, a licensed medical dispensary and a licensed delivery service. (C.R.S. § 44-10-601. Retail marijuana store license - rules - definitions, in Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, Title 44)

Medical marijuana centers are separately licensed by the Marijuana Enforcement Division, per the Department of Public Health and Environment's medical cannabis page.

Three routes are open, and a shop's license decides which of them you are using: a retail store for anyone 21 and over, a medical center for the registry, and delivery under a license of its own. A medical center checks the registry card while a retail store checks the birthday, so the two addresses are not interchangeable.

The Colorado store list names every licensed location this site holds a record for.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.