State of Colorado Regulating Legalized Marijuana for Safety Reasons

State officials in Colorado are looking for ways to better regulate legalized retail marijuana sales in the state.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed a new law that will require uniform packaging of marijuana, which will be opaque and childproof.

At Colorado’s Children’s Hospital in Aurora, doctors have reported more emergency room visits from accidental exposure to marijuana.

"As recreational marijuana goes forward, it's obviously going to increase availability and potentially increase unintentional exposures as well," said Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency physician.

Under the new law, marijuana sales shops can confiscate forms of identification if they believe it is a fake ID for an underage person. Another part of the law calls for cities to submit fingerprints of people working in the marijuana business to be checked by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

“We identified these problems and we sought to tighten it up, to make sure that marijuana is really kept for adult use and kept away from under-aged persons and especially from toddlers,” said State Rep. Daniel Kagan, who co-sponsored the legislative changes.

"We do it differently in Colorado. Everybody came together on this."

According to the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, Colorado has issued licenses to:

-183 retail stores

-238 retail cultivation facilities

-44 product manufacturers

-4 testing facilities

A local license is also required.

At a recent marijuana job fair in Denver visitors, such as Shane Wylie and Matthew Bean of Louisiana, told Fox News they are moving to Colorado to land jobs in the marijuana business.

"This is our life-changing experience, this is our big step and career change," Wylie explained. Bean added, "I want to start from the bottom, so I can learn everything."