Colorado moves to limit home-grown marijuana

The bill would limit each residential property to 12 plants.

KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

Kirk M. Taylor, sheriff of Pueblo County, Colo., Sheriff’s Department, listens during a House committee hearing on a pair of bills that would ban co-op pot growing by setting a statewide limit of 12 marijuana plants per residential property Monday, March 6, 2017, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is moving toward new limits on collective marijuana growing under a bill that sets a new statewide limit of 12 plants per residential property.

A House committee voted 11–2 Monday to curb the nation’s most generous allowances for growing pot at home.

Colorado currently allows medical pot patients to grow up to 99 plants, far beyond other marijuana states, and it also allows recreational users to group their allotted six plants into massive co-ops, entire greenhouses of pot that aren’t tracked or taxed.

Some jurisdictions including Denver already limit homes to 12 marijuana plants.

The bill approved Monday night would still allow large-scale grows, just not in residential areas. It awaits a vote by the full House.

Supporters say Colorado’s plant limits are too easy for criminals to abuse.