Colorado’s marijuana regulators are switching to private industry

Colorado’s top marijuana regulators are starting a private consulting business.

The marijuana coordinator for Gov. John Hickenlooper and the head of the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division say they are leaving state government to offer their services to other clients.

Andrew Freedman was tapped by Hickenlooper to coordinate administrative agencies that oversee marijuana, from the state Health Department to the Department of Agriculture.

Lewis Koski (COSS-kee) is head of the Marijuana Enforcement Division, which collects pot taxes and regulates companies that grow and sell it.

The departures announced Thursday aren’t unexpected. The governor’s pot coordination office was started two years ago as a short-term catch-all for the newly legal drug. And Koski is not the first division chief to head into private consulting.