As of two days ago, the latest version of HB 1284, the bill to regulate the medical marijuana industry, looked something like this. But yesterday’s hearing before the House judiciary committee resulted in a number of significant changes to the legislation. Many of these alterations were good, says Brian Vicente,…
Update, 4:00 p.m.: Representative Sal Pace’s amendment relating to medical marijuana and post-traumatic stress disorder has been defeated, and the Marijuana Policy Project’s Steve Fox isn’t happy about it. Look for the new information after the original item below: At today’s judiciary committee hearing about HB 1284, a bill that…
Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Jeffrey Sweetin has been making an effort to set the record straight on his agency’s approach to medical marijuana, most notably in a wide-ranging interview with Westword’s Joel Warner. And members of the medical marijuana community — even those nervous about HB 1284, the regulatory…
Yesterday, we published an extended interview with DEA special agent Jeffrey Sweetin, a lightning rod for controversy about medical marijuana. Predictably, some of his assertions about the DEA’s actions troubled Jessica Corry, an attorney and medical marijuana advocate. But along with her criticisms, Corry, the wife of fellow attorney/advocate Rob…
The booming medical marijuana industry in Colorado has made a noise loud enough to be heard in the newsroom of the Wall Street Journal, which looks at the business of pot in this square state on page one today. “In Mile High City, Weed Sparks Up a Counterculture Clash” focuses…
A new “Mile Highs and Lows” review has just been published: In it, William Breathes checks out Pride in Medicine, finding the joint’s products to be worth the coughing fits they cause. In addition, we’ve updated Westword’s dispensary directory, which delivers the latest about medical marijuana businesses throughout the area…
This dispensary has closed. As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword will be offering a no-holds-barred…
On Tuesday, we told you about a lawsuit over the rules pertaining to ballot initiatives that’s supported by some strange bedfellows — among them the Independence Institute’s Jon Caldara and Mason Tvert, the marijuana advocate who fronts SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation). Tvert says he isn’t the driving force…
Yesterday, reporter Joel Warner told you about Araphaoe County’s decision to return two pounds of marijuana from Colin Olmstead more than a year after it was seized. The ganja was being driven to a dispensary at the time. The handover took place yesterday afternoon, and Timothy Tipton of Cannabis Health…
Jeffrey Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Denver field division of the DEA, lately hasn’t been too fond of the mainstream media. Much of it has to do with how reporters covered the case of Chris Bartkowicz, a Highlands Ranch man who was arrested by DEA agents last month…
TV-news coverage of medical marijuana often veers toward the sensational — and a story on Channel 4 serves as a perfect example. Last night, the station reported that two people in Boulder, Raghv Sharma and Benjamin Gennis, were busted for driving under the influence of marijuana, with Sharma specifically noting…
Part of House Bill 1284, Representative Tom Massey’s attempt to regulate the medical marijuana industry, states that “the act of supplying medical marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia, by itself, is insufficient to constitute ‘significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient.'” This language is part of an effort to encourage…
As we wrote about in last week’s cover story and sidebar, CannaMed and several other medical marijuana doctors clinics are selling patient information to dispensaries and grow facilities who need patients to cover the pot they have on hand. Some of the patients involved say that’s left them with caregivers…
Of late, the metro area has seen numerous arrests at home marijuana grows where the owners claimed to be licensed medical marijuana providers but appeared to have exceeded the approved number of plants — just like Highlands Ranch’s Chris Bartkowicz, who may be on the way to a plea deal…
Given the controversy over Denver’s medical marijuana regulations, typified by advocate Robert Chase’s campaign to recall the entire city council, it’d be easy to assume that the divide between officials and the MMJ community in Colorado Springs is even wider than the one here. No so, insists Jessica Hogan, who…
One of the hallmarks of marijuana culture is the willingness of tokers to share their supply with others. But an incident in Boulder yesterday takes that generosity to a whole new level. That’s because charity workers going through a donation bin found a bag of pot worth approximately $8,000. Don’t…
Pot advocate Mason Tvert filed language on Wednesday for a November ballot initiative that would allow Coloradans 21 and older to use marijuana. Does that mean Colorado is about to be embroiled in a full-scale movement to legalize weed? Not necessarily…
Keeping track of all the individuals and organizations duking it out on the front lines of the state’s medical-marijuana debate is trickier than picking through the med strains at your corner dispensary. To help weed through the chaos, we’ve created this guide to the state’s top marijuana power players, complete…
You’ve stopped by just in time to find a new “Mile Highs and Lows” review: The Wildflower Seed checks into Boulder Kind Care, whose owner is also a cancer patient. On top of that, we’ve updated Westword’s dispensary directory, which offers the latest details about medical marijuana businesses throughout the…
This dispensary has closed. As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword will be offering a no-holds-barred…
These days, people involved in the medical marijuana community are understandably paranoid about interacting with the press — and especially TV reporters — thanks to the story of Highlands Ranch’s Chris Bartkowicz, who was arrested following a Drug Enforcement Administration raid on his home grow after showing it off in…
On Tuesday, Trevor Douglas, 25, argued that he should be acquitted of a marijuana-possession charge because he’s a member of Hawaii’s THC Ministry, and he views the herb as a holy sacrament. Unfortunately for him, the judge in the case didn’t buy his argument, surmising that Douglas was espousing philosophical…
