What, exactly, is the reason that the state of WA sets potency limits for the cannabis??
There are potency limits? I just did a quick search and cannot find anything that backs that (I’m not saying it doesn’t exist though…just a quick search doesn’t reveal anything). My “friends” tell me you can get some high potency flowers and way higher potency extracts. If there is a limit, it’s high (pun intended). 
The same reason that most states regulate the alcohol limits in certain alcoholic beverages.
I can find limits to how much marijuana you can possess and how much THC you can have in your blood while driving but like wguy123 I can find no information about any limits on the potency.
Such a limit would be incredibly difficult and expensive to enforce, and experts have argued it would serve little purpose.
Shortly after legalization in some states, WA included, hospitals reported a spike of panic attacks and other reactions to the high potency marijuana available in legal shops. Many were old-timers who tried it back in the 60’s and only got reacquainted with it recently when it was legalized. They were surprised by how potent it has become and thought they were having a medical emergency. There was some talk at the time about trying to limit the potency but from anything I can find that has never been attempted.
So you can confirm that this limit exists? Do you have a cite by chance?
State laws vary, but many of them limit the alcohol by volume for certain beverages sold in certain locations.
http://beergraphs.com/bg/556-how-strong-is-your-states-beer/
Certainly I’m aware that some states limit the alcohol content of certain brews, but the question is if WA imposes a limit on the potency of marijuana. You’re saying they do so for the same reasons, but I can find no evidence that they do.
I can’t find an official link to the WA regulations, but here are a few that provide indirect support.
Here’s a page from the Oregon public health site with a link to a PDF showing THC limits in various products. This article (and several others I’ve seen) reference that Oregon’s limits are half of those in Washington for edibles. And this one talks about proposed changes in Colorado to restrict the THC percentage.
OK - I can see that there might be a limit on the edibles but I’m guessing there is nothing on the flowers or concentrates (just the name concentrate seems to show it isn’t true). Just visit one of the hundreds of WA pot shop websites and you can see what they sell and the THC content. I don’t see any limiting of the potency.
As I understand it (since I can’t find the exact law for WA), Oregon and Washington limit the THC amount in a single serving and single container. This is definitely the case in OR, and you can see by following the link to the PDF that it includes limits for concentrates and flowers as well as other forms. For some forms like concentrates that don’t lend themselves to individual serving sizes, the limit is only by container.
Colorado is considering limits on the THC potency (max concentration of 15%), but I don’t know where that stands in the legislature.
I think the OP could elaborate on the question, because like you I don’t see a limit on the potency of pot in WA. I see limits on the amount in WA and potentially the potency in CO. But if we take a guess at the intent of his request and rephrase it as “why does WA limit the amount / why is CO considering limiting the potency,” the answer is as Crazyhorse stated. There is concern about adverse reactions from overly strong pot / too much THC.
I looked at that PDF and I’m not sure how much 1000mg of THC works out to, but they sell ounces of flower in WA. So, if they are limiting it, again, it’s not much of a limit. Not unless your name is Cheech or Chong.
BTW, they make THC suppositories? :eek:
The OP’s question was, “why does Washington set potency limits”, not if.
I have a medical card that enables me to purchase higher potency cannabis than recreational buyers. The pot laws have changed here in WA, medical buyers are now required to purchase their pot in recreational shops, also medical users cannot purchase plants or seeds anymore, and the medical shops,co-ops, and dispensaries have all been shut down.My personal opinion is that the state used medical pot as an impetus to get the public to accept the legalization of weed, and then forced all the medical shops to have to purchase a recreational license to continue selling, only, of course all the recreational licenses were already applied for, when one goes to a recreational shop,today , if there is no medical quality pot available then the only alternatives is to a: search for and find a recreational shop that has what you require or settle for recreational. Also medical buyers were allowed to purchase clones and seeds so thay could grow their own, or have a designated grower grow for them a specific number of plants per patient, unfortunately, at the moment I have only hearsay to corroborate this so my numbers are not exact.
What %THC potency are you talking about? It appears you can get weapons grade bud and extracts from recreational pot shops in WA but maybe I’m clueless to what is considered high potency.
Last time I was in Colorado, the hot topic in marijuana politics was potency limits (potency defined as percent THC). I never heard anything since, so I don’t know if the law was ever put in place, but perhaps that’s what the OP is thinking of?
Also, I bought pot in Colorado twice. The first time (2014) I got a couple of 60mg THC cookies. The second time (2016) they had changed the policy so that they could only sell edibles in 10mg doses or less, and the entire package had to contain 100mg or less in total. So they may not have potency limits yet, but some square keeps tightening the regulations anyway.
I suspect the same here. People complain in OR about the limits on edibles, but I haven’t heard anyone complain about the limits on flowers.
Yeah, that’s a level of dedication that I can’t quite muster. I’d like to think they’re strictly used by the medical crowd who can’t smoke and have trouble keeping food down. But you and I both know it’s not limited to them.
And I maintain that you can’t possibly provide a reason why they do when you don’t even know if they do.
I don’t want to hijack the topic with the alcohol limit angle too much, but to be honest you didn’t give any reason why they do that either.
This is definitely NOT my area of expertise.
Perhaps they’re sold so you can be high while smuggling them through Kansas & other adjacent no-pot states?
Perhaps they’re intended as a surreptitious extended delivery vehicle one could install in the morning after breakfast and then cruise through the workday properly medicated to deal with Asshole the Boss.
Many of them do not limit beer alcohol content.
Only about 7 states have an absolute limit on beer (Ohio has repealed theirs), not counting states that have weird rules regarding refrigerated beer, beer sold in grocery stores, outside of state run liquor stores, etc…
Did you read your own cite? It does not list alcohol limits for beer by state but lists what the average alcohol content is of all beer consumed.