Veronica Carpio, former owner of 420 Highways, a dispensary we reviewed last year was busted Tuesday for an alleged $30,000 marijuana deal intended to send Colorado herb out of state. She also faces charges of using the U.S. Postal service to ship ganja to less green places…
A medical marijuana retail ban passed in Fort Collins this week — but a number of municipalities rejected attempts at prohibition, including Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek and Routt County, which encompasses them. Why the difference? Here’s what Ryan Fisher, co-owner of Steamboat’s Rocky Mountain Remedies, told us…
After weeks of everyone deservedly picking on nerdy law student Cochran for being a scrawny weakling ginger that didn’t contribute much of anything to the team (including this medical marijuana critic), he finally snapped like a freckled twig and completely changed the game for Denver dispensary owner Jim Rice and…
A year ago, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was so backlogged with medical-marijuana license applications that patients had to wait as long as eight months after filing paperwork before they got their red cards. And now, as this bubble of patients rises to the surface to renew…
Update: Steve Ackerman, president of the Fort Collins Medical Cannabis Association and owner of the Organic Alternatives dispensary, notes that the final count in a vote to ban MMJ retail operations in his hometown won’t be released until noon today. However, he sounds resigned to defeat and plenty shell-shocked. “I’m…
Now that a dispensary ban has passed in Fort Collins, patients there will either have to go elsewhere for their medical marijuana or sign up with a caretaker who’s ostensibly limited to six plants per person. But attorney Rob Corry says this limit isn’t hard and fast — and as…
Update below: Last week’s reports from industry sources that Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division director Dan Hartman would be leaving his post have now been confirmed. However, Hartman’s not out of a job. He’s been reassigned within the Department of Revenue, with another Revenue veteran, Laura Harris, taking over for him…
Yesterday, we previewed a media event during which advocates asked that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers sign an ethics pledge pertaining to future commentary on the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act. But Suthers wasn’t in his office when the paperwork was presented, and he wouldn’t have signed it anyway, because…
Staring at a package with a BAKKED Chocolate Rice Crispy Treat inside is enough to make one’s mouth water. Then finding out that that treat apparently has a relatively high of THC packed inside? Talk about a happy little med patient — unless of course all that cannabis fails to…
At noon today, Mason Tvert and other Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act backers will stage an event at Attorney General John Suthers’s office. Why? Suthers feels a letter by (outgoing?) Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division head Dan Hartman published in places mulling MMJ retail-sales bans was unethical, even though Suthers himself…
Update: We’ve now received a response from Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch regarding persistent reports from multiple medical marijuana industry sources that Dan Hartman will depart as director of the state’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division at day’s end. Couch’s prepared statement doesn’t contradict our previous reporting, but neither does…
This dispensary has closed. Though the logo for the Medijuana Center — a Colorado license plate likeness with TMC branded on it — hasn’t changed in the year-plus I’ve been passing by it on my way home from the Westword offices, the management apparently has…
The ambiguously-named Medical Marijuana Workgroup met yesterday, and although the point was to create transparency between state and city officials and the medical marijuana center owners, the results were more akin to a big back-patting session for everyone involved…
Earlier this month, we reported that medical marijuana testing facility Full Spectrum Labs had shut down until the state can promulgate a specific MMJ research license. But CannLabs, which also does cannabis testing, is still open for business, and co-owner Genifer Murray is confident current licenses are more than adequate…
Last week, Jim Rice ended up as the hero for his Savaii Tribe after pushing his team to victory in the elimination challenge. This week, though, the role of tribe savior was usurped by his teammate, veteran Ozzy…
The Bank of Denver’s decision to close its medical marijuana accounts, following a similar move by Colorado Springs State Bank, has put plenty of MMJ businesses in a tight spot. Senator Pat Steadman is considering legislation to authorize a credit union devoted to the industry. But he’s not yet ready…
Update below: The so-called Denver Medical Marijuana Workgroup meets today for the second time in two months. But despite its name, which has caused some confusion in the medical marijuana community, the group hasn’t been charged with any actual work and isn’t a regulatory committee in any way…
Buds for Boobies, taking place at 7 p.m. tonight at the Boulder Theater, is among the season’s most unusual fundraisers: a medical-marijuana-themed decorative bra auction, with proceeds earmarked for breast-cancer research. But it’s also a music-filled educational symposium arguing that MMJ isn’t just for nausea anymore…
Question: Do you like paying less than retail for medical cannabis and cannabis-related merchandise? Yes? Well, hawdilly! You’re just the person Westword is hoping will sign up for our new Groupon-esque Toke Daily Deal e-mails. If you said “no,” then la-tee-da. It must be nice to be in the 1…
Editor’s note: The following, written by Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times, a Westword sister paper, provides a beyond-Colorado look at recent federal actions regarding MMJ. The new federal crackdown on medical marijuana announced on October 7 by four California U.S. Attorneys sent chills through the industry. It was…
After nearly four months, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (finally) updated its medical marijuana stats page yesterday. And although the latest information is from August, it does hint at a slight decline over the last two months in the number of people holding a red card…
One of the biggest issues for medical marijuana entrepreneurs is the shortage of banks willing to take their money. Most used Colorado Springs State Bank until September 30, when its MMJ accounts were dropped. And now, The Bank of Denver, where other businesses had found refuge, is doing likewise –…
