Last year, Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient fired by DISH for failing a drug test, filed a complaint over the issue in Arapahoe District Court. When he lost there, attorney Michael Evans brought the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals, where jurists also rejected Coats’s argument. But…
Yesterday, members of the Denver City Council met in committee to consider the size of a tax on recreational marijuana sales, with one possibility being 5 percent, and a ceiling of 15 percent. Even the former amount strikes marijuana activist and Amendment 64 co-author Brian Vicente as higher than strictly…
Earlier this year, as part of our continuing coverage about the profiling of Colorado cars in other states due to our marijuana laws, we spoke to an attorney who suggested that Colorado drivers ditch their weed before the Kansas state line because of the latter’s strict policies. Sounds like a…
Before Colorado farmers can plant industrial hemp, the state Department of Agriculture must come up with a way to register and inspect their crops. To help establish those regulations, lawmakers authorized the creation of a nine-member advisory committee. The members of that committee have been chosen, and the group met…
This 1915 article from the Littleton Independent shows that the U.S. government had interest in cannabis as a medicine even as some states around the country had begun to ban it as an illicit drug. Not only were they interested, they were growing it themselves. An excerpt: “A medical drug…
The prospect of recreational marijuana sales has produced a lot of political naysaying in the past month or so. On June 19, we counted 24 cities that had prohibited retail pot shops. Now, five weeks later, the Denver Post reports that the number has more than doubled, to 56 cities…
Not that people weren’t smoking ganja at the parties I went to before, but these days it seems like everyone is pulling out a spliff of something from their new garden or recently discovered dispensary to pass around. (Yes, it is medicine, and, yes, we enjoy it socially: Get over…
Dear Stoner: My parents just caught me smoking a joint with friends, and now I’m grounded until summer is over. Did you ever get busted when you were younger? Grounded in Golden Dear GG: Yes, I got busted all the time by parents, security guards, college-dorm assistants, campus police, the…
In a state like Colorado, where cannabis use and possession (of limited amounts) is now legal, you would think that synthetic marijuana wouldn’t have much of a following. But you would be wrong. Five Fort Collins men — Dien Le, Ponlue Pim, Pirun Pim, Ricky Pim and Kenneth Barnes –…
Hemp advocate Jason Lauve has a new endeavor: Team Hemp House, the goal of which is to build a hemp demonstration house in Colorado. “The intent is to show that we can use hemp to build the foundation and the walls and the tiles, but also the furnishings in the…
As we noted yesterday, the odds that recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs would be prohibited have been rising due to assorted political maneuvering involving city council members and Mayor Steve Bach. But many observers were still surprised yesterday when a majority of councilmembers voted for a ban. Now, local…
Broncos all-pro Von Miller is appealing a four-game suspension, reportedly after testing positive for marijuana (and possibly Molly). When it comes to pot use, however, a number of major sports organizations are amending their policies related to positive tests — and Marijuana Policy Project spokesman and Amendment 64 proponent Mason…
At this point, most marijuana advocates have stopped holding their breath while waiting for the federal government to decide whether or not it will interfere with Amendment 64, passed by voters here last November. Now, however, a powerful new voice has joined the chorus of those asking that the Obama…
Broncos all-pro Von Miller may be suspended, reportedly after testing positive for marijuana and Molly. “I know I did nothing wrong,” he tweeted yesterday — and indeed, one ex-Bronco’s pot-use suspension was overturned a few years back. But that wasn’t true of another Denver-affiliated player, who was photographed at this…
Colorado Springs is one of the state’s largest medical marijuana markets, and El Paso County, where it’s located, voted in favor of Amendment 64, albeit by just ten votes. Nevertheless, the Springs city council is likely to issue a de facto ban on recreational pot sales later today, with the…
Due to a time crunch, the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) and Department of Revenue (DOR) released emergency rules for the retail marijuana industry on July 1, leaving the permanent regulations to be developed throughout the summer. Immediately after the rules were released, the state allowed members of the public and…
Here’s another cannabis-related ad, this time from the Ouray Plaindealer from August 30, 1907. Though unlike past advertisements for medicines that contained cannabis, this is one touts the medical benefits of Dr. Franklin Miles’ Pain Pills despite not having any cannabis in the product. And while the pills probably did…
With every trip back and forth to Denver International Airport this summer to pick up visiting friends and family, I’ve become increasingly excited for the light-rail train to DIA. Not only will it finally put Denver up there with other real cities that have real public rail transportation from their…
The state medical marijuana licensing authority received a scolding from auditors in March and then again on Monday, and now it is Denver’s turn to get spanked. The city auditor’s office released a report this morning to Denver’s Independent Audit Committee outlining numerous problems with the city’s handling of the…
Dear Stoner: My friend is a cultivator who is very proud of the fact that s/he grows an entirely organic product, outdoors, no chemical fertilizers, etc. Is this really an issue? I noticed that six of the approximately forty medical marijuana business adverts in Westword proclaim that they market an “organic” product…
When Jamie Rephann’s eight-year-old boxer mix, Tank, started having trouble walking, he took his dog to the vet, where he learned the options were pretty limited. Either Tank could go on expensive pain medication that might destroy his liver, or Rephann could try other, alternative treatments for his pet –…
The Boulder City Council approved a 5 percent municipal excise tax on cannabis for growers and manufacturers last night and decided against enacting a separate sales tax — for now, at least. The city did leave open the option of a 5 percent sales tax if other cities — namely…
