News

Progress: Big and Small 

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Longmont City Council lifts cannabis ban, approving an ordinance allowing up to four retail businesses to sell marijuana and marijuana products within the city limits. Read the story here.

LEADership

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Colorado’s Native Roots jumped into the national fundraising effort aimed at helping the victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, contributing supplies and donating $15,750.  Calling Sept. 15th  “5 percent Donation Day,” the company earmarked the percentage of revenue from all 19 of its retail locations across Colorado for hurricane relief.  Read more in The Denver Post.

Home Sweet Home 

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Legalization of marijuana does not negatively impact home values, and in some cases, positively impacts home values, according to  first-of-its-kind study of Denver by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison  University of Georgia and California State University.  If you don’t want to read the whole study, here are your Top Five Takeaways:

  1. Property values have risen faster within 528 feet of medical marijuana shops that added or converted to recreational marijuana.
  2. Home values increased 8.4 percent, an average of about $27,000, since Jan. 1, 2014, when recreational marijuana joined the medical marketplace in Denver. Overall home prices in Denver have risen 6 percent since legalization.
  3. Home values located more than .1 miles away from a retail shop are not impacted positively or negatively.
  4. Some underlying factors may have contributed to the increased property values in vicinities closest to dispensaries, including lower crime rates, additional amenities nearby and a surge in housing demand because of Denver’s growing marijuana sector.
  5. In addition to business and sales taxes, municipalities may get an extra boost from increased property taxes.

Words of the Week: Legitimate and Legal  

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“(The cannabis industry) donates to all four caucuses, which is kind of what you expect in this world from a legitimate, legal industry that is arguably the most heavily regulated and heavily taxed in the entire state,” he said. “They are looking to make sure that they have a voice in the Capitol, and to find that they donate to Republicans and Democrats and senators and representative across the board and across the spectrum should not surprise anyone.” Senate President Kevin Grantham, a Cañon City Republican.

Read the full story

Colorado looks to marijuana tax as budget fix

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In last-minute negotiations between Colorado lawmakers on a major spending bill, a dubious budget fixer has emerged: marijuana taxes.

The tentative legislation unveiled this week seeks to extract additional money from Colorado’s burgeoning cannabis industry by raising the recreational marijuana special sales tax from 10 percent to the maximum 15 percent rate.

The new dollars are earmarked for rural schools and a tax break for business owners on personal property — two purposes that diverge from the original intent of voters who in 2013 approved Proposition AA imposing taxes on recreational marijuana.

Colorado House endorses bill to protect marijuana industry

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Colorado’s House has endorsed a bill to allow recreational pot growers and retailers to reclassify their product as medical marijuana if federal marijuana policy changes.

The House voted on Wednesday to approve the bill , a bold attempt by a marijuana state to avoid federal intervention in its weed market.

It requires another formal vote before it’s sent back to the Senate, which passed a different version of the measure.

The bipartisan bill would let Colorado’s approximately 500 licensed recreational pot growers to instantly reclassify their weed. It says a switch could happen “based on a business need due to a change in local, state of federal law or enforcement policy.”

The Trump administration has given mixed signals on its plans for states that don’t enforce federal drug law.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Colorado’s US senators want to legalize banking for marijuana

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Colorado’s two U.S. Senators are leading a new bipartisan effort to provide banking for marijuana businesses.

Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican Cory Gardner are co-sponsors of the legislation.

“The lack of access to banking services for marijuana businesses is a key issue in Colorado,” Bennet said.

“It raises significant public safety concerns for both employees and customers of these businesses and creates compliance and oversight challenges. This common-sense bill would address those issues by allowing our banking system to serve marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws.”