How to Get a MED Badge in Colorado: Fingerprints, Form DR 8517, and Renewal

To get a MED badge in Colorado, you confirm you meet the eligibility rules, get fingerprinted through an approved vendor, submit the Marijuana Employee License Application (Form DR 8517) with a $170 fee, and wait for the Marijuana Enforcement Division to clear your background check. Most people apply through the MED’s online ML1 portal, though you can also mail your application or bring it to an MED office. If you need to start work before the full background check finishes, there is a conditional license option that costs more and must be done in person.

Who Needs a Badge and Who Qualifies

Anyone who handles, grows, manufactures, tests, sells, transports, or delivers regulated marijuana must hold a valid employee license and badge before starting work.¹ The requirement also covers anyone with unescorted access to limited-access areas of a licensed facility, even without touching product. Owners apply for a separate owner license.

You must be at least 21.² You do not have to live in Colorado. The MED’s own guidance confirms you can live anywhere in the United States and apply, using a valid photo ID from any state.³ If your ID shows an old address, you can still use it as long as you put your current address on the application.

The most common disqualifier is a felony conviction within the three years immediately before you apply. The clock runs from the conviction date, not the arrest.² You’re also ineligible while serving any felony sentence, including probation, or while under a deferred judgment or deferred sentence for a felony. The MED can additionally weigh your overall criminal history under the good-moral-character factors in C.R.S. 24-5-101(2), so a misdemeanor is not an automatic bar but can count against you. Social equity applicants get one specific protection: a past marijuana conviction alone cannot be the sole basis for denial.

Two other eligibility rules catch people. If the MED gets notice that you’ve failed to comply with a child support order, your application can be denied or held up until you show compliance. And if you worked for the state licensing authority with regulatory oversight of marijuana licensees within the last six months, you have to wait out that cooling-off period before applying.¹

Step 1: Get Fingerprinted

Every applicant needs fingerprints on file. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation approves two vendors: IdentoGO and Colorado Fingerprinting.⁴ Book an appointment with either one before you submit your application.

When you book, pick the specific option for a marijuana employee license. The MED warns that choosing a cheaper, wrong option means your prints never reach the division. You’ll end up mailing in a hard card, your application slips by weeks, and you still owe the $39.50 CBI processing fee. For Colorado residents, the correct option runs about $54 to $57, which includes the rolling fee and CBI/FBI processing.⁵

Step 2: Complete Form DR 8517

The application is Form DR 8517, the Marijuana Employee License Application, with a Spanish version (DR 8517SP) available.⁶ It collects your personal information, residency status, and criminal history disclosures. It also asks whether you’ve ever had a professional or privileged license denied, revoked, surrendered, or disciplined, and requires full details and dates if so.⁷

Answer honestly. The MED cross-references what you disclose against your background check results, and an omission can be treated as a misrepresentation that gets you denied outright. If you have something borderline on your record, disclosing it on the form gives you a better shot than hoping it won’t surface in a national database search.

Step 3: Submit and Pay

You can submit three ways: online through the MED’s ML1 web portal, by mail, or in person at the MED’s Lakewood office. In-person appointments are also available at the Colorado Springs and Grand Junction offices.⁸

A standard employee license costs $170 total: a $130 application fee plus a $40 license fee. Both are nonrefundable and due at submission.⁶ Online applicants pay by credit card or e-check. Mail-in or in-person applicants can also use a check or money order payable to the Colorado Department of Revenue.⁷ Before you submit, check that the form is fully signed, your ID copy is legible, and your address includes any apartment number. Missing pieces delay processing.

Conditional License for Faster Start

If you need to start work before your full background check finishes, apply for a conditional employee license. It costs $220 total ($150 application fee plus $70 license fee) and issues your badge based on an initial investigation.⁶ You have to apply in person because the badge must be physically handed to you. If your full background check later turns up a disqualifier, the MED issues a Notice of Denial and you have seven days from the mailing date to return the badge.¹ If it comes back clean, the conditional converts to a standard license automatically.

After You Get Your Badge

Wear your badge any time you are in a limited-access area at a licensed facility. Colorado regulations require it to be plainly visible, worn at or above the waist, with your photo facing outward.⁹ You cannot alter, obscure, damage, or deface it. A missing or improperly displayed badge during a compliance inspection creates problems for both you and your employer.

Two-Year Term and the Renewal Trap

Your license is good for two years. Renewal costs $120 total ($90 application fee plus $30 license fee) and can be done through the ML1 portal, by mail, or at the Lakewood office.³

Submit before your license expires. If you let it lapse, you cannot renew at all. You have to apply for a brand-new license at the full $170 and cannot work until it is issued. Even one day late means starting over.³ When you do renew on time, the MED emails a receipt; keep it with your expiring badge as proof while the new one is in the mail.

If You’re Denied

If the MED denies your application, you’ll receive a notice. You have the right to file a notice of appeal and can proceed to a hearing or negotiate a settlement. For a renewal denial, you can also request a meeting with the MED to resolve the issue before the denial becomes final.³ If you choose not to appeal, return your badge and stop working immediately. The most common denial reasons are undisclosed criminal history, an active felony sentence or deferred judgment, and incomplete applications.

One Federal Issue to Know About

Under federal law, anyone who uses marijuana is considered an unlawful user of a controlled substance, regardless of state legalization. Working in Colorado’s cannabis industry can therefore affect your ability to legally possess firearms or ammunition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3).¹⁰ If you buy a firearm from a licensed dealer, you’ll see the question on ATF Form 4473, and answering dishonestly is a separate federal offense. The badge itself is not proof you use marijuana, but the conflict between state and federal law is worth understanding before you apply.

1
Legal Information Institute. 1 CCR 212-3-2-265 – Owner and Employee License
2
Justia. Colorado Code 44-10-307 – Persons Prohibited as Licensees – Definition
3
Marijuana Enforcement Division. Employee License Renewals
4
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Employment and Background Checks
5
Marijuana Enforcement Division. Third Party Fingerprint Providers
6
Marijuana Enforcement Division. Employee License Application
7
Colorado Department of Revenue. Marijuana Enforcement Division – Marijuana Employee License Application
8
Marijuana Enforcement Division. Marijuana Enforcement Division
9
Colorado Department of Revenue. 1 CCR 212-1 – Sales, Manufacturing, and Dispensing of Medical Marijuana
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts