Collectives that provide pot to members at or below cost — and also free of regulation and taxation — face uncertain prospects now that laws governing legalized marijuana in Colorado are on the books.

Through a final-hour amendment, legislators sought to ban recreational marijuana collectives incorporated as nonprofits or businesses. Gov. John Hickenlooper signed that pot bill and others into law Tuesday.

One nonprofit collective has at least temporarily halted operations, and another is taking a wait-and-see approach to the new rules.

Under the model, members assign to the collective their growing rights guaranteed in the state constitution under voter-approved Amendment 64. The collective, which by law cannot profit, then provides marijuana to members for no more than the cost of expenses.

Collectives aim to meet consumer demand until for-profit pot retail centers — which will be regulated and heavily taxed — open next year.

Robert Corry, a Denver lawyer whose firm has helped establish more than a dozen pot collectives, said he believes existing collectives are grand- fathered in and can continue.

Corry said he would advise others starting out to not formally incorporate. He also argues the right for adults to organize collectives is protected under Amendment 64, no matter the intent of legislators.

“Any reading of it allows my clients to keep on doing exactly what they are doing — and they will,” Corry said.

One client, however, put its operations on hold after being identified this month in a Denver Post story on collectives.

MJ Proper Inc. — a nonprofit that offered delivery of cannabis-infused beer, bud bags and more — is no longer advertising products or seeking new members on its website.

“We’ll be right back!” the site says.

MJ Proper’s operators did not respond to requests for comment.

Chris Jetter said he is not sure what the new law will mean for his recreational marijuana collective, Blue Mountains, but suggested the attempt to rein in collectives may be unconstitutional.

Jetter said Blue Mountains has suspended accepting new members — it now has about 130 — because of demand, not the attempted ban.

“We are just kind of peeking through the gray curtains and seeing if we can define some black and white for ourselves so we can move forward,” said Jetter, who has raised the possibility of keeping the collective going if the state restricts for-profit centers too much.

Corry advises collective operators to seek reimbursement from members for rent, power, fertilizer, chemicals and other expenses. He said he believes collectives also can include their labor costs but advises against it because documentation is more difficult.

Denver lawyer Warren Edson said he thinks the new pot regulations prohibit assignment of growing rights but allow for more hands-on collectives with members taking active roles in the growing process.

State Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, said the law has many shades of gray, but collectives appear to be marijuana businesses.

“I do think they are walking up to the line or stepping over it,” he said. “As soon as money changes hands, then I think they are into the business side and ought to be regulated as growers.”

Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski