News

Reliving history

Westword talks to Sean Azzariti, a Marine Corps veteran, cannabis activist and medical marijuana patient consultant who made the first legal purchase of adult-use marijuana in Colorado on Jan. 1, 2014. 

Read the Story »

Headlines

Forget the wall

New CATO report shows legal cannabis most effective for reducing cross-border marijuana smuggling.

Read More »


Cannabis prices on the rise 

Wholesale prices increased moderately last quarter, spelling good news for state coffers.

Read More »


The top 10  

Westword recaps the top cannabis-related news stories of 2018.

Read More »


Battle continues over cannabis tours

CNN report on New Year’s Eve 2017 sparked ongoing debate over social consumption laws.

Read More »


Quotable


“Being from Colorado, it is hard to think about federal criminal justice reform without thinking about the biggest problem the federal criminal law creates for Colorado: the refusal to respect the will of Coloradans when it comes to marijuana. Every day, Coloradans of good faith follow Colorado law to a T, yet they are still criminals in the eyes of the federal government. Cancer patients using medical marijuana to control their pain and veterans who are using marijuana to alleviate the PTSD they suffer because they served their country – federal law says they are criminals. The People do not think that. So the federal law should change.”

Sen. Corey Gardner 

Upcoming Events

January 9
CanopyBoulder public demonstration day

More info »

January 15
CanopyBoulder Jumpstart Conference for entrepreneurs

More info »

January 26 and 27
Indo Expo Denver

More info »

Better than tech

New research shows the cannabis industry is far outpacing the tech sector in job creation and is on target to create more than 250,000 jobs by 2020. 

More »

In addition to new high-paying careers like bud tenders and trimmers, a host of security opportunities also abound. 

More »

Still, marijuana businesses face unique HR challenges. 

More »

The weird world of cannabis

That was among the topics of discussion at the second Aspen High Summit, which brought together cannabis entrepreneurs and investors, the entertainment industry and the state’s top marijuana regulator.

Attendees at the Aspen High Summit were “serious business people and serious makers of medicine, they’re Ph. D’s, MD’s,” said summit organizer Jim Lewi. “They’re not going for the highest THC product in the world, they are trying to normalize it.”

Read More »

Quotable

“It has become much less stigmatized. Seniors talk to their peers, and they say, I got relief when I used this on my shoulder or my knee. I would say probably two in 10 have used some formulation [of marijuana or cannabis products].”

Headlines

Wipe low-level marijuana convictions clean?

That’s what The Denver Post editorial board proposes, noting that laws have “adapted to meet the realization dawning over America that marijuana is a relatively safe drug.”

Read More »


Cause for concern?

What President Trump’s pick for AG could mean for the marijuana industry.

Read More »


Cannabis and Alzheimer’s

Harvard’s McLean Psychiatric Hospital is partnering with Spier Family Foundation to research the potential benefits.

Read More »


Following the money 

As legalization spreads, the Associated Press looks at which U.S. companies are getting into on the marijuana industry. 

Read More »


Looking ahead

Will new legislature be more cannabis friendly?

Read More »

LEADership

Using nearly a million dollars from a state grant, the University of Colorado is studying how cannabis use affects drivers.

“Right now law enforcement doesn’t have a lot of objective tools looking at objective measures or biological measures that they can use at roadside,” researcher Ashley Brooks-Russell told 9news. “What’s commonly used or kind of the first line of defense is the standard field sobriety test. That’s not really well-suited for cannabis, so we’re looking to see if these tools might provide some better tools for law enforcement to use roadside.”

9News Story »

Legal cannabis means early retirement for some officers of the K-9 kind

The legalization of marijuana is forcing some drug-sniffing dogs into early retirement and prompting trainers and law enforcement departments to rethink whether to include cannabis in the list of substances dogs are trained to detect. The move comes on the heels of a Colorado court case that says that a dog’s reaction to what might be legal marijuana jeopardizes a law enforcement officer’s ability to initiate a probable cause search for any illegal substances.

NY Times Article »