For more than a year, we’ve shared stories about alleged pot profiling of cars with Colorado license plates. Examples include a Westword writer stopped twice during one cross-country trip and a man who said he’d been improperly blamed for toking by managers at a Kansas hotel. Now, Darian Roseen, seventy,…
During the debate over regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, opponents frequently suggested that the presence of such shops would cause crime to rise. Numerous studies have debunked these predictions and a new University of Texas Dallas inquiry does, too — but with a twist. Researchers note that crime rates related to…
In the early 1950s, a U.S. senator from Tennessee named Estes Kefauver wanted to make a name for himself. The guy had high aspirations, after all, and fancied himself presidential material. And what better way to do that than to scare the living crap out of the American public with…
There was a whole lot of shaking going on in northwest Denver last Sunday, when an attempt to make hash oil exploded in a rental duplex in the 2900 block of Julian Street. Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey formally charged 40-year-old Jeff Garbarek, 39-year-old Steve Donnel and and 43-year-old Scott…
My high school didn’t have shop class. The only way we could learn about using power tools was through tech theater classes, in which we were used as slave labor to build sets for the plays. That also included painting faux wood finishes that looked great at twenty feet but…
The Colorado Department of Public Health is looking to limit the number of patients that private medical marijuana caregivers can serve, as well as put a cap on the number of plants an individual may grow. Currently, caregivers can serve more than five patients by applying for a “medical necessity”…
In honor of the Best of Denver, our stoner picked two of his top questions from last year. Have a fresh one? Send it to marijuana@westword.com or call 303-293-2222. Dear Stoner: If a mosquito bites you while you’re smoking a joint, will it get high?Buggin’ Out Dear Buggin’: What a…
Despite the start of recreational sales, there was no drop in active-patient red cards in January. According to statistics released by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment last week, the number of registered medical marijuana patients in the state actually grew by a few dozen people between the end…
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Colorado attorneys can advise medical and recreational marijuana shops to follow state laws, even though such laws are in complete contradiction to federal laws that Colorado attorneys all vow to uphold. Back in December, the Colorado Bar Association had released a formal opinion…
Why is it that all marijuana actions are scheduled for 4:20? That’s when Mason Tvert, founder of SAFER and father of Amendment 64, showed up outside the Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion last Friday to call Governor John Hickenlooper a hypocrite for installing craft-beer taps there and turning it…
Ever wonder what fictional American millionaire playboys did for kicks 100 years ago (aside from Gatsby)? Us neither. But cannabis is a funny thing, and once again our digging has dusted off a gem of marijuana writing from Colorado’s past about American millionaire Paul Lane and his romantic adventures from…
I used to care about waiting a few months to review a new dispensary — but I’ve since changed my mind. If a shop is going to open its doors to the general public, then it shouldn’t matter when I visit. The kinks in the shop might need more time…
Dear Stoner: The hint of warmer weather has me thinking: Can I grow ganja outside in Denver?Sprouts Dear Sprouts: According to Colorado law, your growing must be done in an enclosed, locked space and not conducted “openly or publicly.” That’s a pretty broad definition, and one that hasn’t really been…
High Times will once again be a Mile High on the 4/20 holiday, when the magazine will bring its now-annual Cannabis Cup back to Denver. But do recent shutdowns of other cannabis-friendly events in the city mean that attendees won’t enjoy the same huge clambake that has marked the last…
Since 2012, we’ve been reporting about DISH’s firing of Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient, after he failed a drug test. Coats’s lawsuit over the issue has failed in Arapahoe District Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals. It’s now headed to the Colorado Supreme Court, where powerful forces…
It’s been two weeks since Colorado farmers could begin registering with the state Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp, and the department reports that twelve producers have completed the process. As of March 17, seven producers had registered to grow hemp for commercial purposes and five producers had registered…
Not all that long ago, marijuana advocates tended to encounter more shut doors than open ones when dealing with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. But times are steadily changing. Last week, a group organized by the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association spent two days in the Nation’s Capitol, with members participating…
While we would love to take credit as the first newspaper in Colorado to actually offer advice on growing and consuming marijuana, it turns out that the Aspen Daily Times had us beat by decades, going all the way back to August 11, 1938. Sort of. The little brief is…
Yesterday, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Amendment 64 applies retroactively to defendants whose actions would have been legal under the measure and were appealing convictions when it became law. A64 co-author Brian Vicente has called the decision a huge victory, while Colorado Attorney General John Suthers suggests that…
People from around the country took part in CannaSearch, Colorado’s first cannabis job fair, at which twelve marijuana-based companies set up tables offering job opportunities. O.Pen Vape presented the event, and it was open for anyone ages 21 and older. Jobs included photojournalism, marketing, sales, tour guides, bud tenders and…
The national media continues to be fascinated by Colorado cannabis, Stephen Colbert included. Last night, less than two months after his amusing tribute to the marijuana Super Bowl, he devoted the lion’s share of his program to the subject via two segments: one exploring the scene in what he dubs…
Remember when you’d go over to your friendly neighborhood pot dealer’s house and he would only have one strain of herb to offer you — but, hey, it was weed, so it didn’t really matter? Me, neither. It’s been way too long since that’s been the case, considering the hundreds…
