Wyoming Bill Aimed At Clarifying Pot Edible Possession Law Dies

The latest effort to clarify what is a misdemeanor versus felony amount of drug-infused products such as pot edibles has been defeated in the Wyoming Legislature.

You can read House Bill 30 here. It was voted down by a margin of 18-13,

In introducing House Bill 30 in the Senate on Wednesday, Sen. Bill Landen [R-Natrona County] told Senators that the Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab has raised concerns about the state law on possession of controlled substances. Current law deals with substances in liquid, plant, powdered, and pill. capsule or cocaine-based form among others.

But the problem is that certain drugs don't fit any of those categories. That creates a problem for the crime lab when trying to classify the drug.

That, in turn, makes it harder to prosecute cases. That can come into play when a substance such as black-tar heroin is in question or food substances like pot edibles.

House Bill 30 would have removed the form of the drug from the equation and strictly relied on the weight of the substance. '' This bill simply removes the consideration of forms" Landen said. 'Rather, the amendments determine whether specific weight is a felony or a misdemeanor." He went on to say ''The proposed amendments in this bill, generally, keep the penalties for these offenses relatively similar to what they were in the past."

Landen admitted that questions would remain. For example, if an edible was dissolved in a glass of water, would a misdemeanor turn into a felony simply because the glass of water weights more? ''I don't know that we have these statutes absolutely tied down. I;m not sure you can get there with the way the world is changing,'' Landen said. ''But I do think the bill is a good one" he added.

Sen. Nethercott Argues Against The Bill

But Sen. Tara Nethercott [R-Larmie County] said ''I don't think this is the policy statement that this body wants to make or understands that it is making right now with this bill. She said that if there are still things that need to be worked out "What does that mean? .....it means somebody goes to prison. It means someone is a felon, they lose their rights, and they go to prison.'' She added that the real conversation is not about black tar heroin. ''I think what we are really talking about here is edible marijuana. She says it's an issue because most of the country has legalized pot edibles, and "most notably the states all around Wyoming.

She went on to say "A pan of brownies or a dozen cookies bought 20 miles away, will that young man who went down from college and back be a felon in this state because of this law?"

Here is how they voted on House Bill 30 in the Committee of the Whole

Ayes: Anderson, Boner, Cooper, Dockstader, Ellis, Furphy, Hicks, Hutchings, Kinskey, Landen, Scott, Steinmetz, President Driskill
Nays: Baldwin, Barlow, Biteman, Bouchard, Brennan, Case, French, Gierau, Ide, Jones, Kolb, Laursen, McKeown, Nethercott, Pappas, Rothfuss, Salazar, Schuler

The bill had previously breezed through the House by a vote of 57-5.