Law Colorado

[Baron23]

Colorado: New marijuana edibles regulation goes into effect Oct.1: What to expect


As study reports on infused products and child safety, Cannabis industry stresses strides the industry is making to protect youth, points to exceptional safety record.

The Cannabis Business Alliance (CBA) has released a statement in response to the recent study by the University of Washington Cannabis Law & Policy Project “Concerning Cannabis-Infused Edibles: Factors that Attract Children to Foods.”

“Once the Cannabis industry enacts regulation of shapes, we can safely claim that between child-resistance, prohibited advertising of cartoon characters, opaque packaging, and warning statements, that Colorado infused products manufacturers are doing more than any other industry to make edibles less appealing to kids while maintaining colors and flavors that do appeal to the adult markets we serve,” noted Cannabis Business Alliance Executive Director Mark Slaugh.

“We also strongly support Mendez and Singer in their conclusions that more research and data is needed to ensure current regulations are effective before trying to tweak them. We are, after all, less likely to be accidentally ingested by kids than dish detergent packets, diaper rash cream, and even alcohol-infused chocolates. Since marijuana is non-toxic like some of these other substances, we are proud of our industry members who help set the standard in caring for and participating in a socially responsible industry that puts child safety above profits understanding that many of our customers are responsible parents who keep edibles away from their kids. It is remarkable that over 5 million infused product units are sold each year with very few and, indeed, diminishing cases of accidental ingestion. A strong indication that we are doing the right thing,” Slaugh continued.

CBA maintains that banning legal edibles or regulating edibles out of existence merely pushes a safe, regulated, taxable industry with professionally produced, lab-tested products packaged in childproof packaging into the Black Market where homemade edibles with no testing or limits on potency and no required packaging become a much more dangerous situation for children.

Colorado’s rules for infused products mandate that the products cannot be shaped like animals, or be in packaging designed to appeal to children. Beginning Oct. 1, regulations require all packaging as well as cannabis-infused products be marked with the specific symbol. Recent regulations also prohibit edibles manufacturer from buying commercial non-infused products and spraying them with hash oil, as the average consumer or child would not be able to tell the difference between a medicated and unmedicated products. CBA stresses that adults must keep Cannabis products safely out of the reach of children, and educate youth on the dangers of underage consumption. The Alliance also calls for more research on the issue.

 

[Baron23]

Too stupid for words.

Man who gave cannabis to boy behind medical pot law charged

DENVER — A man who made cannabis oil for a Colorado boy who was instrumental in passing a state law requiring schools to allow students to use medical marijuana is facing several felony drug charges.

Mark Pedersen had been providing the oil to Jack Splitt before the boy’s Aug. 25, 2016, death. Jack, who was 15 when he died, had severe cerebral palsy and dystonia, a disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions.

After he was denied the use of marijuana oil at his school in Jefferson County west of Denver, he became the impetus for a 2016 state law that allowed eligible students to use the drug on campus.

When he died, a Lakewood police officer who was assigned to the West Metro Drug Task Force began investigating Pedersen, 60, who is accused of manufacturing with the intent to distribute marijuana, Denver television station KMGH-TV reported Thursday https://goo.gl/6KeHT4 .

Officers found several jars and bags of marijuana, suspected cannabis oil and other items related to the manufacturing of marijuana oil during a search of the boy’s family home shortly after his death, according to an arrest affidavit. Pedersen was renting a room in the basement at the time.

FILE - In this Monday, March 18, 2015 file photo, fourteen-year-old Jack Splitt, right, celebrates with his mother, Stacey Linn, as Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signs a bill named after the young man from Wheat Ridge, Colo., to crack down on the state’s medical marijuana industry in southeast Denver. Mark Pedersen, a man who made cannabis oil for Jack Splitt who was instrumental in passing a state law requiring schools to allow students to use medical marijuana is facing several felony drug charges. (David Zalubowski, File/Associated Press)
Officers also found notebooks that listed treatments for Pedersen’s “patients,” several of whom were minors, as well as Facebook posts written by Pedersen touting the benefits of medical marijuana.

“I need to be reminded my life is not my own. I have a purpose ... I can make oil. I can provide hope,” one post read.

Pedersen’s attorney, Matthew Buck, told KMGH-TV the charges are unfounded and that the case would not have come about had it not been for Jack’s death. “We feel strongly he’s overcharged because they’re charging him with possessing a significant more amount of concentrate than he had,” Buck said.

Pedersen was not registered with the state as a medical marijuana caregiver, although he did have a medical marijuana card.

A phone call to Stacey Linn, Jack’s mother, was not immediately returned Thursday evening.

 

[Baron23]

Colorado expanding medical marijuana potency testing
Colorado’s Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division has announced the implementation of expanded mandatory medical cannabis potency testing beginning next month.

Under the expanded testing, an “optional premises cultivation operation” or medical marijuana infused product manufacturer must have a potency test conducted on every production batch of medical marijuana concentrate. Likewise, manufacturers of medical marijuana infused products will be required to have potency tests conducted by an approved testing facility on each batch of products.

The Department says the testing is “a matter of public health and safety.”

Production batches created prior to November 1, 2017 are not subject to the new potency testing requirements.

In other recent regulatory news of out Colorado, a ban on the sale of edible marijuana products shaped like animals, people and fruit took effect at the beginning of this month. The ban, which was forewarned last year, is designed to help minimise the risk of children ingesting the products. However, the ban doesn’t prevent the sale of other shapes not mentioned above.

Given the amount of time manufacturers have had to prepare, the start of the ban has reportedly had little impact on those in the industry.

In addition to the ban, new potency labeling requirements have come into force.

“Marijuana products in shape and branding should not be enticing to children and we want consumers to be educated about the potency of the products they are buying, these rules ensure that to be the case,” stated Colorado Department of Revenue Executive Director Mike Hartman.

Colorado isn’t the first state to implement a ban on edibles shapes that may be particularly attractive to children. Washington has done so and California is also considering a ban.

As we mentioned in February, Iowa’s draft medical cannabis regulations take things a step further than Colorado, banning products bearing a “reasonable” resemblance to candy, fruits, animals or human characters; or any object that would appeal to children.

Colorado’s retail and medical marijuana sectors have proven to be a cash cow for the state government’s coffers. This year’s total total revenue from all marijuana taxes, licenses and fees (to the end of August) reached $158,746,120.

 

[Baron23]

oh, oh...somebody got their pecker caught in the door jam....wow, wonder what the charges will be.


Breaking: Marijuana retail chain operator Sweet Leaf forced to shut down in Denver area

Sweet Leaf, one of Colorado’s largest marijuana retail chain operators, had all of its Denver-area stores shuttered by city authorities on Thursday.

Twenty-six of the vertically integrated company’s licenses have been suspended, according to Dan Rowland, the spokesman for the Denver Department of Excise and Licensing.

Rowland said a suspension order is issued when the department has reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe that the licensee has willfully broken the law.

The Denver Police Department executed search and arrest warrants on marijuana retail stores across the metro area.

Sweet Leaf’s website lists 10 recreational and medical marijuana retail stores in Denver. Sweet Leaf also has a retail outlet in Portland, Oregon.

In addition, the Denver-based company operates cultivation facilities.

Sweet Leaf officials could not be reached for comment.

Police spokesman Doug Schepman declined to name the business or businesses that were raided but said the investigation is ongoing.

Rowland of the excise department confirmed that it was only Sweet Leaf stores that had been issued suspension orders.

Rowland said Ashley Kilroy, the licensing director for the department, signed the order of summary suspension Thursday.

The official order states that Kilroy reviewed an investigation by Denver police and found:

“Reasonable grounds and probably cause exists to believe that Respondents have engaged in deliberate and willful violations of state and local laws or regulations, and/or that the public health, safety, and welfare requires emergency action.”

The company, which boasted over 350 employees in April, had revenue of $60 million in 2016.

 

[CarolKing]

I had read the article online and they would sell ounces to the same people throughout the day and probably selling their product across state lines. These cannabis companies need to follow the rules to the letter. This types of activity will get legal cannabis shut down. Sessions is all over stuff like this. CO will probably throw the book at them if this turns out to be true.

They are very strict in WA state as well. I understand why folks do this but it will fuck things up for the rest of us. Sessions can’t wait to get rid of medical and legal.

 

[Baron23]

Op-ed: Denver should re-think the stiffer-than-workable rules for social marijuana venues


The history of Colorado’s long experiment with cannabis legalization has been fueled by great energy among ganjapreneurs looking to try new marketplaces. Think back to the launch of legal pot sales on New Year’s Day, 2014. Stores all over Denver and across the state were poised to open and plenty of others were already in the pipeline.

So it’s truly odd that Denver’s voter-approved pilot program freeing businesses to allow recreational cannabis use in their establishments is off to such a slow start as to be almost nonexistent.

We fear the city has overplayed its regulatory authority and deprived the four-year experiment a reasonable chance to succeed.

Passed in November 2016, the pilot was meant to allow permit applications to begin this summer. The city assembled a task force to help craft its regulations for the program and started considering applications at the end of August.

But only now has anyone come forward. As The Denver Post’s Jon Murray reports, the owners of a pot shop in Lincoln Park wish to open a coffee shop that, for a $5 fee, allows customers to also vape marijuana or consume pot edibles. The planned Coffee Joint venture appears to have met an important permit obligation in securing support from its neighbors.

Why the lack of interest? Mostly likely because, as supporters of the program argued this summer, Denver added rules that make gaining a permit nearly impossible in the most desirable areas in the city. While voters approved a plan that would require social-use permits to remain 1,000 feet from schools, regulators said the businesses had to also be 1,000 feet from day care centers and drug and alcohol treatment centers.

Related stories

• Coffee shop wants to be Denver’s first legal marijuana club
• Denver businesses can now apply for social marijuana use licenses
• Social use marijuana clubs will soon be legal in Denver, but how many will open?
• Cannabist Show: He has a 420-friendly event space ready to go while Denver figures out social use
• Denver finalizes first-in-nation marijuana social use rules, dropping some restrictions

We supported the 2016 ballot measure that created the pilot because it seeks to solve obvious problems for tourists and residents who wish to enjoy the drug much like others are allowed to enjoy beer, wine and spirits. State law forbids public use. State and local governments have been slow to craft rules of their own. Here is an effort to find solutions.

The measure voters approved was hardly a giveaway to would-be pot-offering establishments. Its requirements meant that permit-seekers must gain support from either a neighborhood association or business improvement district in its area, who could tailor rules for each permit. The City Council can scrap it after four years if the experiment isn’t working, or after six months if problems arise.

Yes, there is the worry about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an avowed anti-pot warrior who could wreak havoc here should he wish, given the remaining and wrongheaded federal prohibition on cannabis. The argument could be made that maybe keeping this newest version of the pot experiment tamped down makes sense while he’s in office.

But the voters have spoken, and the spirit and language of the measure they supported has obviously been disregarded. That’s just not kind.

Denver’s regulators ought to re-think the stiffer-than-workable rules and give seekers of on-site pot-use permits more room. Supporters suggest a 500-foot buffer between shops and child care facilities, or the ability to craft waivers with such entities. That’s a reasonable ask.

 

[Baron23]

"are prohibited from selling more than one ounce of retail marijuana flower or its equivalent in retail marijuana concentrate or retail marijuana product during a sales transaction to a consumer."

Oh, this will rattle around in the courts for a while. It does NOT say that there is a restriction of one transaction a day. Yes, the argument can well be made that these purchases were broken up into 1 oz size buys to circumvent the regulation, but the reg does not seem to specifically disallow this type of activity. If it ain't in writing somewhere, the cops are going to have a hard time with this and I imagine may well get sued for it.


13 Sweet Leaf budtenders swept up in Denver police raids
The criminal activities alleged include sales of cannabis in violation of Colorado law, which stipulates that adults over the age of 21 can buy and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana at a time, according to Denver police.


The 13 people arrested Thursday in a yearlong investigation into suspected illegal marijuana sales at Sweet Leaf Marijuana Centers were budtenders, The Cannabist’s preliminary review of arrest affidavits released Friday found.

The criminal activities alleged include sales of cannabis in violation of Colorado law, which stipulates that adults over the age of 21 can buy and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana at a time, according to Denver police.

Sweet Leaf owners Christian Johnson, Matthew Aiken and Anthony Suaro were not named in the documents released Friday by police.

The investigation is still ongoing, Denver police spokesman Doug Schepman told The Cannabist Friday. There are nine outstanding arrest warrants in the case, he said.

Search and arrest warrants were executed Thursday morning in raids of eight Sweet Leaf locations in Denver and Aurora. In concert with the police action, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses suspended 26 licenses — including medical, retail, cultivation and extraction operations — for entities that do business as Sweet Leaf.

Previously: Police raid eight Sweet Leaf Marijuana Center locations in Denver and Aurora

The arrest affidavits released Friday provide a window into an undercover police operation that’s been under way for more than a year.

The alleged violations occurred during covert visits to Sweet Leaf locations on Dec. 7, 2016; Dec. 14, 2016; Jan. 5, 2017; Feb. 23, 2017; July 26, 2017; Aug. 3, 2017; and Oct. 5, 2017, according to the affidavits.

On each date, an undercover detective entered a single location multiple times — as few as five times and as many as 16 — during windows of time ranging from 59 minutes to 5 hours and 50 minutes, according to the affidavits.

The affidavits say that during each covert visit, a detective equipped with a hidden video camera would enter the store and provide his ID to the employee behind the glass window in the lobby. That employee then would provide the ID to the budtender, who then would escort the undercover detective to the sales floor.

From that budtender the detective then typically purchased “The Special,” identified as 1 ounce of marijuana for $120, with strains including Afghani, Blue Dream, Cheese Quake or Tangerine Kush, according to the affidavits. The detective exited the store and put the marijuana in his vehicle.

Minutes later, the detective would walk back into the store and make another 1 ounce purchase — often from the same budtender, according to the affidavits.

The arrest affidavits for the respective budtenders outline how each of them allegedly made at least two same-day sales to an undercover detective. Those sales allegedly made by the respective budtenders totaled anywhere from nearly 2 ounces to close to 5 ounces.

When contacted by The Cannabist, Sweet Leaf officials responded by providing a screenshot of page 77 of Colorado’s marijuana code. Circled with a red marker was the following provision:

A Retail Marijuana Store and its employees are prohibited from selling more than one ounce of retail marijuana flower or its equivalent in retail marijuana concentrate or retail marijuana product during a sales transaction to a consumer. Except that non-edible, non-psychoactive retail marijuana products including ointments, lotions, balms and other non-transdermal topical products are exempt from the one-ounce quantity limitation on sales.

a. One ounce of retail marijuana flower shall be equivalent to eight grams of retail marijuana concentrate.

b. One ounce of retail marijuana flower shall be equivalent to 80 ten-milligram servings of THC in retail marijuana product.​

Officials for the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division declined comment on the Sweet Leaf case, citing an ongoing investigation. Officials also provided a position statement on the definition of a “single sales transaction.”

MED officials stated that what constitutes a “single sales transaction” is dependent on “the facts and totality of circumstances of each indivudial case,” adding:

The division will seek administrative action against licensees attempting to circumvent the statutory and rule requirement imposing the limitation of one ounce per transaction of retail marijuana. Sales that are structured as multiple, stand-alone transactions may be viewed by the division as an attempt to evade quantity limitations on the sale of retail marijuana, resulting in recommendation for administrative action.

Further, an individual in possession of more than one ounce of retail marijuana or its equivalent is acting unlawfully.

Denver police initially announced Thursday that 12 individuals were arrested for investigation of illegal distribution of marijuana. One additional arrest was made late Thursday following that announcement, police said Friday.

In all, 13 people were arrested Thursday:

• Christopher Arneson, 28, of Denver, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Natalie Betters, 25, of Aurora, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 4 ounces

• Andrea Cutrer, 26, of Denver, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Ian Matthew Ferguson, 27, of Denver, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Joseph Gerlick, 28, of Englewood, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Leeanne Henley, 25, of Arvada, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 4 ounces

• Krystal Mauro, 36, of Lakewood, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 4 ounces

• Deann Miller, 45, of Denver, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 4 ounces

• Jonathan Sublette, 37, of Englewood, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Cassidy Thomas, 22, of Northglenn, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Dana Velasquez, 27, of Aurora, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Devin Waigand, 22, of Denver, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 1 ounce

• Stuart Walker, 24, on suspicion of distribution of marijuana of more than 4 ounces

 

[momofthegoons]

Oh, this will rattle around in the courts for a while. It does NOT say that there is a restriction of one transaction a day.

No... but the law does state that a person can only have 1 oz. of cannabis at any given time. So if a 'patient' goes in and buys an ounce from a budtender..... then comes back in a few minutes later and repeats the transaction with the same budtender... that budtender certainly knows that he's sold the patient over an ounce and that the patient is out of compliance. Even if another budtender served the patient, it's the same location and the previous sale would be in the system.

 

[Baron23]

So if a 'patient' goes in and buys an ounce from a budtender..... then comes back in a few minutes later and repeats the transaction with the same budtender.

But sequential transactions does not constitute possession. Yes, its obvious that these were purchases made in an attempt to get around the sales limits, but it does NOT specifically limit multiple sequential purchases (that I can see...) and the only one breaking the possession law was the cop.

 

[Baron23]

"Colorado Springs City Council President Richard Skorman, it’s frustrating to watch the cash flow to other cities — “sales tax leakage,” he calls it....people are going all over this state to buy marijuana and it’s outrageous,”

The NIMBYers want their cake and be able to eat it too. F them.....no play, no pay.

"Republican Mayor John Suthers, who was the state’s attorney general when Coloradans passed legal weed: “I may well be behind the times, some have called me a ‘drug war dinosaur,’ but I remain absolutely convinced it’s terrible public policy,” Suthers said. “People should not be getting high for fun. … We’re creating a generation of young marijuana users who will go on to become lifelong drug abusers.”

What this asshat prick doesn't get is that nobody cares what he is convinced about, the state's electorate voted and overwhelmingly approved full rec. Tar and feather the anti-democratic, entrenched political class and our country would be much better off.


Colorado Springs declined to allow recreational marijuana sales. Now it’s having second thoughts
For Colorado Springs City Council President Richard Skorman, it's frustrating to watch the cash flow to other cities -- "sales tax leakage," he calls it


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — At the two malls in town you can buy key chains and Christmas ornaments shaped like marijuana leaves. Along a downtown shopping corridor, paintings of cannabis plants grace storefront windows.

Even Kmart stocks its shelves with T-shirts and mugs decorated with the signature green leaf and “Colorado est. 2012” — the year the state legalized recreational marijuana.

But that is the one pot product you can’t buy in Colorado Springs.

When Coloradans voted overwhelmingly to make non-medical marijuana legal, they left it up to cities whether to allow sales. Colorado Springs, home to five military bases and known for its conservative politics and religious values, blocked recreational cannabis sales. Now some in town want to change that, saying the state’s second largest city is missing out on sales taxes that are enriching cities across Colorado.

Similar debates are already happening in cities in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — states that passed legalization measures last year. Recently, the Los Angeles City Council, eager to pull in new tax revenue, crafted rules for recreational marijuana sales that will begin in January.

In Colorado, one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, just a handful of cities still forbid such sales. The Colorado Springs City Council enacted its ban in 2013, but Denver, suburbs and mountain ski towns rushed to implement sales and quickly saw the boon.

Last year, Colorado pot sales and fees produced nearly $200 million in tax revenue. In Denver, the city raked in about $24 million, which, among other things, was used to build a recreation center near downtown. Aurora, a Denver suburb, brought in about $16 million and used the money to help fund projects to help homeless people.

And in Manitou Springs, a community of about 5,300 known for its eclectic charm — it has a weekly Wiccan meet up — pot money has revitalized the town.

For nearly 12 years, a project to revamp the main thoroughfare stagnated. Now, marijuana taxes are funding new bike paths, decorative sidewalks and lighting. Major improvements were already underway thanks to a voter-approved road initiative, but money from pot made the extra amenities and aesthetic improvements possible.

The town’s two dispensaries last year generated $1 million in taxes — some of that from the pockets of residents from neighboring Colorado Springs. In 2016, Manitou Springs’ budget was about $8.3 million. And this year, it increased to about $10.4 million, thanks, in part, to pot.

“It’s brought new life to this town,” Farley McDonough, president of the Manitou Springs Urban Renewal Authority, said. “In many ways, it’s good Colorado Springs does not have sales.”

Marcy Morrison, a former Manitou Springs mayor, staunchly opposed legalizing pot back in 2012.

Related stories

• Colorado politician takes on Gov. Hickenlooper over marijuana risks
• Op-ed: Colorado legalization anniversary nothing to celebrate
• Pro-marijuana group endorses funding initiative they got left off ballot for
• Neighbors report fire, cops find home grow of 150 plants, arrest two
• More prime shopping time: Colorado Springs dispensaries may get extended hours

“I thought it was terrible,” she said. “But really this has been a learning experience. Legal pot has helped the city.”

For Colorado Springs City Council President Richard Skorman, it’s frustrating to watch the cash flow to other cities — “sales tax leakage,” he calls it.

“People are going all over this state to buy marijuana and it’s outrageous,” Skorman said. “It’s already legal. It’s in the state’s Constitution.”

Skorman is teaming with a local group, Citizens for Safer Neighborhoods, which is working to get a legal pot initiative on the local ballot in November. The group must gather 20,000 signatures by the summer to place it before voters in this city of 465,100.

Safer Neighborhoods commissioned an economic study by a University of Denver professor that estimated Colorado Springs would make an additional $20 million in taxes — money that supporters say could, among other things, help repair roads and hire more police officers.

A large portion of that would come from medicinal marijuana shops looking to sell recreational pot. According to the study, if all 356 licensed medical marijuana establishments in the city were to pay a licensing fee of $7,500 for recreational pot, Colorado Springs would collect about $2.6 million.

Tom Scudder, who is a member of Safer Neighborhoods, said his two marijuana shops illustrate some benefits, and unfulfilled potential, of legalized pot.

At Rocky Road Aurora, which sells recreational and medical weed, the line of people waiting to buy strains of Agent Orange sativa and Lemon OG indica loops around stanchions and a Christmas tree in the lobby. The walls of the bustling shop are decorated with hats and T-shirts emblazoned with the company’s name, and near the checkout counter are marijuana themed greeting cards.

An hour away back in Colorado Springs, Scudder runs a medical pot dispensary, A Wellness Centers, out of a small office space in a low-slung, cinder-block strip mall that looks like an aging motel. Inside, the hum of a dusty air-conditioning unit attached to the paint-peeling walls fills the silence of the often empty shop.

“Not having legal sales here is wrecking my business and hurting this community,” Scudder said in the Colorado Springs dispensary.

But his effort faces strong pushback from a prominent local voice:

Suthers often points out that local law enforcement supports his view. He also notes past reports from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that showed an uptick in teen marijuana use in Colorado since voters passed legal pot. (A report, however, released in December by the agency found that the current rate of marijuana use among Colorado 12- to 17-year-olds dropped from 11 percent in 2014 to 9 percent in 2016.)

And cutting off the black market? That’s wishful thinking, Suthers said.

He cited a recent example in Denver, where grand jurors indicted 62 people in a marijuana-trafficking organization that amassed millions of dollars by illegally growing pot and selling it out of state. It was among the largest crackdowns on illegal growing since marijuana sales went into effect.

And Suthers says the city’s conservative values and image are at stake. Not since Lyndon B. Johnson was on the ballot in 1964 has a Democratic presidential candidate won here, and the community recently faced backlash for opposing needle-exchange programs embraced throughout much of Colorado amid the country’s opioid crisis.

When asked what he would do with increased revenue from marijuana taxes should it become legal here, Suthers demurred, saying the notion the city would “fund essential government services with proceeds from drug sales in violation of federal law is irresponsible.”

“For me, it’s largely a moral issue,” he said.

On a recent evening, a trickle of customers arrived at Scudder’s Colorado Springs shop, which he admits could use a renovation. He decided a while back to hold off on putting in new floors and walls until legal sales are implemented. And he never thought it would take this long.

“We are literally allowing money to walk right out of the city,” Scudder said. “For what? Because of some so-called ‘conservative values.'”

Chris Webb, 45, who uses marijuana for anxiety, came into the shop to buy a quarter ounce of Flo sativa. To him, the pushback against recreational sales has been surprising.

“I’ve lived in this city most of my life,” he said. “We could use the money to fix some of these damn potholes.”

As the shop’s employee — the bud tender — handed Webb his change, her face lit up in agreement.

“I hit one of those the other day,” she said.

 

[Baron23]

Sweet Leaf raids highlight need for clarity in Colorado’s marijuana enforcement regulations

The arrests of 13 budtenders at one of Colorado’s largest marijuana retail chains last week exposed a hole in the state’s regulations for recreational cannabis sales.

The rules stipulate that a retail cannabis store can’t sell more than 1 ounce in a single transaction. But marijuana-focused legal experts say the law doesn’t spell out how much can be sold over the course of a day.

Workers at Sweet Leaf’s eight Denver locations were charged with allegedly selling multiple ounces in separate transactions to the same customer in a single day as part of a year-long undercover investigation by the Denver Police Department.

During the sting, a detective or another buyer went into a store, bought an ounce of marijuana, returned it to a car waiting in the parking lot, then went back in and bought another ounce. The operation netted as much as 16 ounces from a single store in one day.

Some of the budtenders were charged with felonies for selling more than 4 ounces in one day to the same person, and the Colorado Department of Excise and Licensing suspended 26 of the vertically integrated company’s licenses.

Sending a message

While it remains to be seen if the arrests will result in convictions, legal experts say it’s clear Colorado’s compliance enforcement authorities are intent on cracking down on certain business practices deemed as law violations.

“Obviously the state’s trying to make an example out of a relatively large company,” said Rachel Gillette, a Denver-based cannabis attorney with the Greenspoon Marder law firm. “In true law enforcement style, they wanted to send a message to the industry.”

According to Colorado’s current rules for marijuana businesses, “a retail marijuana store and its employees are prohibited from selling more than 1 ounce of retail marijuana flower or its equivalent in retail marijuana concentrate or retail marijuana product during a sales transaction to a consumer.”

Gillette focused on the “sales transaction” language.

“It comes down to, what do you consider a transaction?” Gillette said. “This is where the law gets a little tricky, and this is where clarity in our rules and regulations is very important.”

The state’s current rules don’t say anything about one day or one hour or one week, she added.

Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor, said the situation is complicated “because no one of those transactions violate the statute.

“It’s not clear to me what part of the code they violated if they were only selling ounces and selling lots of them.”

The recreational cannabis regulations limiting the sale of 1 ounce per transaction have been around since 2012.

“But what the rules don’t say is that I can’t walk into the business twice a day and buy an ounce,” Gillette said. “It doesn’t give you a time frame.”

She also noted that:

• Recreational marijuana businesses aren’t required to track customer data, including their names, what they purchased and when they purchased it.
• There’s also the possibility a shift change could lead to a different budtender serving the same customer on the same day.

“The (Sweet Leaf) case illustrates that there’s this heightened responsibility for budtenders to police what people are doing,” Gillette said.

“The last thing we need is for budtenders to be facing criminal penalties for doing their job or doing what they think is lawfully allowed.”

Rule changes

Legal experts find it curious that authorities would suspend licenses and make arrests at the end of the year since the limit of 1 ounce per transaction will offer more clarity in less than two weeks.

According to new regulations that go into effect Jan. 1:

“A retail marijuana store and its employees are prohibited from transferring more than 1 ounce of retail marijuana flower or its equivalent in retail marijuana concentrate or retail marijuana product in a single transaction to a consumer.

“A single transaction includes multiple transfers to the same consumer during the same business day where the retail marijuana store employee knows or reasonably should know that such transfer would result in that consumer possessing more than 1 ounce of marijuana.”

Gillette says the new rule is “much more specific.”

“The reason they’re changing the rule is because clearly it wasn’t accomplishing the task or the policy behind it,” she added. “Clearly, the intent of this law is to prevent people from buying product then reselling it.

“We want to make sure people don’t just keep buying ounces, then take them to Kansas or wherever.”

Scrutiny and diversion

Kamin said the Sweet Leaf situation highlights the need for proper training and supervision in marijuana businesses.

“Even if this conduct isn’t illegal, it’s really bad,” he said. “If you’re a manager and you see your budtender sell the same person 16 ounces in a day, you should fire that person.

“Even if it’s not illegal, it’s going to bring a lot of scrutiny that’s going to be bad for business.”

Kristi Kelly, executive director of the Denver-based Marijuana Industry Group, said there’s a difference between how the rules are written and how they are interpreted in light of the Cole Memorandum.

That Obama-era memo guides state law on both recreational and medical marijuana, emphasizing the importance of preventing diversion of marijuana out of states with legal cannabis programs.

Kelly explains to her members they need to be doing whatever they can to prevent diversion.

“One of the grounding conversations we have is what can we do as an industry,” she said. “How do we keep (cannabis) out of the hands of the people who aren’t supposed to have it?”

Bart Schaneman can be reached at barts@mjbizdaily.com

 

[Baron23]

It is clear (well, to me at least) that Sweet Leaf indeed actively and knowingly participated in events intended to get around the commonly held belief that purchaser's were only allowed one ounce per day. However, the law does NOT exclude multiple purchases in a day (but will come the new year).

The buyers, however, did exceed the one ounce possession limit and therefore are rightly charged. Sweet Leaf, however.....I think they have an out given the language of the law at the time.


The story behind the undercover investigation that led to the Sweet Leaf raids

The Denver Police Department search warrrant reveals details of the year-long investigation


By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff

A budtender’s six-month stint at the Sweet Leaf Marijuana Center in Aurora came with no incidents — no activity recognizable as illegal or suspicious.

The same couldn’t be said after that employee was transferred to the Sweet Leaf location off 38th Avenue and Clay Street in Denver, according to a Denver Police Department affidavit obtained by The Cannabist.

“Things are a little different here,” an assistant manager allegedly told the employee during his first work shift at 2647 W. 38th Ave., “you’ll get used to the Loopers.”

The affidavit, one of several filed as a request for search warrants in the case, provides some glimpses into the year-long investigation of alleged illegal marijuana sales at the Denver-based Sweet Leaf chain.

The investigation, which is ongoing, zeroed in on alleged incidences of “looping,” in which individuals would make repeated purchases of 1 ounce of recreational marijuana — the maximum allowed for purchase and possession, per Colorado law — several times a day.

On Dec. 14, police raided several Denver-area Sweet Leaf locations, executing search warrants and arresting 13 budtenders, employees involved in the sale of marijuana. As of Thursday, 10 employees have been charged with either misdemeanor or felony distribution of marijuana.

The Sweet Leaf story so far

• Denver DA files charges against Sweet Leaf budtenders allegedly involved in “looping” marijuana sales
• Sweet Leaf employee Christmas bonuses disappear from bank accounts after police raid
• 13 Sweet Leaf budtenders swept up in Denver police raids
• Police raid eight Sweet Leaf Marijuana Center locations in Denver and Aurora

The court-approved search warrant for Sweet Leaf’s headquarters, 1475 S. Acoma St., revealed the sweeping nature of the inquiry: Officers had the OK to look for and seize money; plants; business, employment, training and customer records; documentation on operating procedures; video surveillance recordings; computers, thumb drives and passwords; and any evidence related to money laundering.

Police also requested access to the safety deposit boxes and storage spaces held by Sweet Leaf’s owners, Christian Johnson, Matthew Aiken and Anthony Sauro. Police requested their bank accounts be frozen. The owners have not been charged in the case.

The language and narrative included in the affidavit for the headquarters search warrant was mirrored in the seven additional search warrants executed for the six Denver and one Aurora locations, said Ken Lane, spokesman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

A tip from a neighbor
According to the affidavit, police detectives got wind of potential illegal activity in November 2016. The following is a synopsis of allegations in the affidavit:

A Denver resident who lives near the Sweet Leaf location at 2647 W. 38th Ave. contacted police, expressing concerns about neighborhood impacts and potential criminal conduct.

On a daily basis during the months leading up to his call, the neighbor noticed a certain pattern of customer traffic: Numerous people would park near his home, walk into Sweet Leaf, return to their cars with purchased marijuana products only to then immediately return to Sweet Leaf and continue the “loops” several times.

Police followed the tip by sending a couple of detectives to conduct surveillance.

On the afternoon of Nov. 28, 2016, they saw the “looping” pattern in action with at least four other people, one of whom conducted more than 10 separate transactions.

The man, driving a car with Kansas plates, left the vehicle with a rolled-up fleece blanket and walked into Sweet Leaf. He’d leave the store, open the rear passenger door of his car, place the purchased item on the seat, grab another blanket and re-enter the store.

An hour and a half and more than 10 transactions later, the man left and then was stopped by police. Identified at the time as Cornell Ellis, a 26-year-old man from Missouri, the customer initially told officers he bought 2 ounces from the store but later admitted to having as much as 2 pounds of marijuana in his car.

Ellis told police that Sweet Leaf employees said he could purchase more than 1 ounce of marijuana if he parked his car “off camera” and put the marijuana in his car and came back. The store was offering a “coat and blanket drive” during which customers could get a 10 percent discount for bringing in a blanket.

Several people made multiple purchases at Sweet Leaf every day, Ellis said.

“And this is the crazy part for me, I only bought two pounds — I’ve seen people buy 10,” he told police.

And everyone at the Sweet Leaf store, he added, was “cool with it.”

Ellis was arrested with charges including possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of marijuana.

When he was booked in the Denver jail and fingerprinted, it was revealed he was Joseph Scott, a 28-year-old man with felony drug charges in California, Kansas and Missouri, the affidavit said. Officers executed a search warrant and found 7.46 pounds of marijuana at Ellis/Scott’s house. That was in addition to the 35 containers, totaling 2.16 pounds, of Sweet Leaf marijuana in his car.

The investigation picks up
On Dec. 6, 2016, the investigation went into full-swing.

Detectives mounted a surveillance camera to record activity outside the store. They saw about 10 different people conducting “looping” transactions.

The next day, a plainclothes detective entered and exited the store seven times between noon and 1:24 p.m., buying one ounce of marijuana flower each time.

On some instances, his shopping bag contained a Sweet Leaf advertisement: “Just a little Sweet Leaf RECREATIONAL Friendly Reminder! Recreationally it is illegal to possess more than 1 ounce of cannabis at a time! So we recommend you only purchase in a day what you are allowed to have on you. If we feel like you are abusing the system, we will ban you from shopping with us. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”

The note then detailed the possession and transfer provisions of Amendment 64.

At no time, the detective noted, was he confronted or questioned by Sweet Leaf employees, including Chris Arneson who sold him product in back-to-back transactions that occurred within six minutes of each other, the affidavit said. At no time, the detective said, was he refused service or told he was abusing “the system,” or violating Colorado law.

By the end of his undercover stint, the detective had 188.832 grams, or 6.6 ounces, of marijuana — possession that would trigger a level 1 drug misdemeanor violation.

A week later — as plainclothes vice detectives conducted surveillance in an unmarked car to observe ongoing “looping” activity — the same detective went back to the store, this time asking Arneson if he could buy more than 1 ounce of marijuana and whether there was a medical marijuana discount. Arneson said a customer who is a “medical member” registered with Sweet Leaf can get discounted pricing; the recreational store can sell only 1 ounce

“Cause we are a recreational store and that is all they legally allow recreational to sell … You just have to leave the premise with the weed and come back without it, your possession is up to you,” Arneson said, according to the affidavit.

Other undercover operations played out with similar results during the next 12 months at Sweet Leaf locations across the city.

On Dec. 7, 2017, a week before the raids, police conducted undercover investigations at seven Sweet Leaf locations. On each instance, which lasted typically less than an hour, the undercover detectives conducted five consecutive transactions.

Along the way, police arrested several customers, many of whom drove rental cars or vehicles with out-of-state plates

Adama Njie, who drove a Hertz rental car with Oregon license plates, spent $4,300 in one day and bought 3 pounds of marijuana purchased from a Sweet Leaf dispensary. In his car were two Oregon driver’s licenses and one from New York, all with his picture, along with two Walmart receipts showing the purchase of 115 fleece blankets for $287.50.

Joshua Reid, who had 44 Sweet Leaf containers in his white Chevy Camero, made 35 trips to and from a Sweet Leaf dispensary in five hours’ time, the affidavit said.

De Mario Garner had 10 Sweet Leaf containers in his rental car, a digital scale in the passenger compartment of the car and three Pringles containers that were filled with eight individual, 1-ounce bags of marijuana, the affidavit said.

Another customer, a resident of Carlsbad, N.M., who “came to party and have a ‘smoke break,’ said he was told Sweet Leaf was a good place to conduct multiple consecutive purchases in a day.

He had tried buying from places like Liv Well, but was turned away when he tried to make multiple purchases. He said he never was given trouble by Sweet Leaf.

He would take the marijuana back to New Mexico and sell it for $320 per ounce.

An insider passes information
Along the way, police received additional information from a confidential informant, a former Sweet Leaf budtender who later worked as a security guard for a company that contracted with Sweet Leaf.

The employee told police of several instances where he questioned or challenged officials for Sweet Leaf and the security firm. The employee said he was rebuffed or reprimanded.

He was told that “as long as you give them that paper on the recreational ounce laws and they leave camera view, you cannot get in trouble.”

The former employee noticed that when word spread that a customer got arrested near the Clay and 38th store, the looping activities shifted to another location.

Undercover officers found that other employees or security guards appeared to be aware that looping was occurring. In some instances, employees or the security guard on duty asked the undercover detective whether he left the property and whether his car was out of view of the security camera.

At one point, the undercover detective was told to take more time before returning, as it could be suspicious enough for an officer to pull him over.

“Yeah, I don’t need that,” the officer said.

The security guard replied, “And we don’t need that either.”

Other cuustomers arrested during the investigation

• Joseph Scott, 29, pleaded guilty in November 2016 to possession of marijuana and sentenced to a year in prison.
• Adama Njie, 37, pleaded guilty in September to possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to three years of probation.
• Joshua Reid, 27, pleaded guilty in March to possession of marijuana concentrate and was sentenced to two years of probation.
• Sergio Montero, 25, pleaded guilty in June to possession of marijuana concentrate and received a deferred sentenced of one year of probation.
• Young Lee’s charge of possession of marijuana concentrate with intent to distribute is pending in Denver District Court.

 

[Baron23]

Colorado Rep. DeGette convenes delegation to respond to Sessions, discuss federal marijuana protections


By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff

Colorado’s congressional delegation convened an emergency meeting Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to shore up protections for state-legal marijuana operations and, in turn, states’ rights.

In the meeting, members advanced plans for federal marijuana protections and honed near- and long-term strategies to counter U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ rescission of the 2013 Cole Memo.

“(Sessions’ action) really takes direct aim at states like Colorado that have taken state action and are working responsibly to implement (marijuana legalization),” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., the senior member of the delegation who convened the meeting.

The attorney general’s marijuana policy shift has brought together delegates with otherwise “widely divergent philosophies” to take action and plan future moves, she said.

First, they sent a letter.

Related stories

• Colo. Sen. Gardner meets with Jeff Sessions on marijuana, neither giving ground
• Colo. Sen. Gardner to meet with Jeff Sessions on marijuana after doubling down on threats to block DOJ nominees
• Colorado Congress members send letter to Sessions, urging reinstatement of Cole Memo
• Louisiana governor to Trump: Don’t prosecute medical marijuana
• Federal marijuana bills boosted by new supporters as Congress gets back to work

Four Colorado representatives fired off a letter Tuesday to Sessions, urging him to reinstate the memo. Such a move, they argued, would ensure that the federal government “is not unduly interfering in state policy.”

Next, they planned for the immediate future.

Colorado congressional leaders are spearheading efforts to hitch a budget rider onto the spending bill that will be debated in the next week, DeGette said.

As previously reported by The Cannabist, the spending bill amendment is expected to mirror the McClintock-Polis Amendment provision that prevents Justice Department spending from interfering with state-legal marijuana regulations and businesses.

Then, they began thinking long-term.

DeGette said that members of the Colorado delegation were supportive of her Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act of 2017, which was introduced in last May.

The bill, previously introduced by DeGette and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., in 2012, 2013 and 2015, would amend the Controlled Substances Act’s preemption clause by inserting the following exception:

“(b) SPECIAL RULE REGARDING STATE MARIHUANA LAWS.-In the case of any State law that pertains to marihuana, no provision of this title shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to occupy the field in which that provision operates, including criminal penalties, to the exclusion of State law on the same subject matter, nor shall any provision of this title be construed as preempting any such State law.”

This bill goes to the heart of the Trump administration’s efforts to reverse states’ rights, DeGette said.

“If we could pass that bill, that would directly counter what Sessions is trying to do,” she added.

DeGette said she’s building support in the Senate for a yet-to-be-drafted companion bill. Sessions’ actions as well as the Jan. 1 implementation of recreational marijuana sales in California have “sharpened the scrutiny” in Congress, she said..

“If we can build a bipartisan, bicameral coalition for my legislation, then I think we might really have a shot of getting it through,” she said.

 

[Baron23]

I wonder what they would think if there was a bill to introduce an extraneous chemical marker in their daily meds....maybe in their benzo's or narcotics. Maybe in their blood pressure and blood fat pills. And of course Gov. John Hickenlooper supports this....sigh.

New Colorado bill would add chemical agent to Cannabis plants to help police track illegal marijuana

A new bill being proposed in the Colorado Senate would require all cannabis plants in the state to be marked with a chemical tracking agent in order to help local police keep tabs on all hemp and marijuana grown in the state.

The bill, SB 029, stipulates that “the technology must include an agent that is applied to a marijuana plant, marijuana product, industrial hemp, or industrial hemp product and then scanned by a device."

Further details are vague, largely because the tracking agent in question has not even been developed yet. The bill would task Colorado State University Pueblo with developing the tracking agent, after which the state would designate a sole vendor to sell the product.

Law enforcement agencies would then be able to purchase this technology using grants from cannabis sales tax revenue.

The proposed bill has already drawn criticism from numerous advocates and industry leaders, who are understandably worried about the application of an unknown chemical to a product that is meant for human consumption.

Larisa Bolivar, executive director of the state's Cannabis Consumer Coalition, told Westword that “most cannabis consumers aren't going to like the thought of something being sprayed on their weed.” Representatives from several local dispensaries also expressed their concern over the idea, calling the bill “fucking crazy” and “ludicrous.”

This Tuesday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper expressed his support for the legislation during a news conference, noting that the new system could help local police keep track of black market cannabis. The state's original cannabis law allowed individuals to grow up to 99 plants each, raising concerns among some that excess product can make its way onto the black market.

Hickenlooper also explained that this new technology could possibly use oxygen isotopes, which would be put into water used for hydrating the plants. Cannabis plants would ingest these isotopes along with the water, and then remain with the plant throughout its life, making it trackable.

The state already has a seed-to-sale tracking system in place, which law enforcement officials are using to help determine the source of any illegal product they encounter on the black market. Several companies involved in the state's current tracking system have also voiced their opposition to the bill, as the change in technology could put them out of business.

An aide to state Senator Leroy Garcia, one of the bill's co-sponsors, told Westword that the Senator was not yet ready to discuss the bill, as there will be “a number of amendments” to the legislation before the final vote, and people might get “confused” without knowing all of the details.

 

[Baron23]

Is it game over for Medical Marijuana in Colorado?

Colorado's pioneering of recreational marijuana in 2014 may have led to a big unintended consequence with far-reaching implications: the destruction of the state's medical marijuana marketplace. Can medical marijuana and recreational marijuana coexist?

What's up?

Most states that have passed recreational marijuana laws started out by passing medical marijuana laws and Colorado's no exception.

The state's medical marijuana market has been around since 2000, and it wasn't until 2014 that cannabis consumers were able to legally walk into a pot shop and buy marijuana for personal use without a medical marijuana card.

Now that marijuana's available to any adult who wants to buy it, it appears marijuana cards are becoming less important. Colorado recently updated its marijuana sales for 2017, and as part of its data dump, the state acknowledged that its medical marijuana sales had dropped last year.

Specifically, medical marijuana sales in Colorado totaled $430 million in 2016 but only $420 million in 2017. That was the first decline in medical marijuana demand since the recreational market opened for business.

Why it's happening

It's probably not too surprising that while medical marijuana demand is slumping in Colorado, recreational marijuana sales are soaring. In 2017, recreational marijuana sales grew 30% year over year to $1.07 billion.

The slide in medical marijuana and rise in recreational marijuana may make sense. Applications for medical marijuana cards in Colorado can take anywhere from one to three business days, and if the application contains an error, it can take even longer.

In order to get a medical marijuana card, individuals must have a qualifying medical condition, too. According to Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment, the qualifying conditions that allow a person to get a card in Colorado are cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, cachexia, persistent muscle spasms, seizures, severe nausea, severe pain, and PTSD. That's a pretty comprehensive list, but it may be that many patients are avoiding an official medical diagnosis and forgoing the hassle associated with obtaining a medical marijuana card.

That has Matt Karnes of GreenWave Advisors thinking that medical marijuana cardholder data "will likely be indicative of further deterioration in medical market fundamentals."

What does it mean?

Medical marijuana is paving the way toward widespread acceptance of marijuana use, but it could be that the passage of recreational laws is shifting some medical marijuana users out of the healthcare system. That could be a bad thing if it means that patients stop getting primary care that can identify other health concerns or treatment options.

Nevertheless, Colorado's evolving marijuana market offers insight into how important recreational marijuana can be to state budgets. Colorado's combined $1.5 billion in medical and recreational marijuana sales produced $247.4 million in marijuana taxes, licenses, and fees in 2017, up from $193.6 million in 2016. That's not chump change.

So far, only eight states have passed recreational marijuana laws, but there are 30 that have passed medical marijuana laws in one form or another. As more states, like California, begin reporting significant tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales, however, it's a good bet that others will follow suit and put an end to marijuana prohibition.

That's good news for marijuana consumers and entrepreneurs in these respective states, but the U.S. market still presents challenges to marijuana investors. Because marijuana remains illegal nationally and Washington Republicans are jawboning for stricter enforcement, it's unlikely we'll see federal marijuana laws eased soon.

Without reform at the federal level, the U.S. marijuana market will remain fragmented with few investment-worthy options trading on major market exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange. Instead, most of these small stocks will continue to trade over the counter on the pink sheets, which potentially subjects investors to a greater risk of fraud.

For now, investors interested in buying marijuana stocks should continue to focus on markets that are legalizing marijuana on the national level, including Canada. That country's expansive medical marijuana market is fueling revenue and profit growth for a variety of companies, including Canopy Growth (NASDAQOTH:TWMJF) and Aphria Inc. (NASDAQOTH:APHQF). These Canadian companies are investing heavily in their grow facilities and an expected opening of a nationwide recreational market this year has industry watchers thinking the market could double.

Canadian marijuana stocks aren't cheap, though. They've already attracted widespread interest among investors, and they're valued richly relative to sales and earnings. These stocks have a chance to grow into their valuations, but if you're concerned about paying up to buy them, another option is to buy a backdoor marijuana stock, such as Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG). While Scotts Miracle-Gro continues to get the bulk of its sales from fertilizer and pesticides, it's investing heavily in hydroponics and those products are increasingly accounting for a bigger share of its revenue.

Overall, it appears that medical marijuana markets in states that have passed recreational laws will face a drop-off in demand. As a result, investing in companies that are solely focused on medical marijuana may not make the most sense.

 

[Baron23]

I love them giving Jeff Sessions, a ton of shit. Love seeing this.

Local Colorado officials lead new national coalition challenging Sessions’ Cole Memo moves


Elected officials from across Colorado are leading a national coalition of state politicians asking U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to convene a task force to align federal and state cannabis laws.

The new organization calling itself Leaders for Reform on Wednesday sent a letter to Sessions condemning his Jan. 4 rescission of the Cole Memo and related marijuana guidance.

The move, the group claimed in the letter, eliminated safeguards “put in place to protect public safety,” while sowing confusion and chaos in states with marijuana laws.

“We, at the local levels and state levels, we don’t like to work in chaos, we don’t thrive in chaos,” Pueblo County, Colo., Commissioner Sal Pace said Wednesday during a press conference call.

Related stories

• U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts: focus is on opioids, not marijuana
• Could Sessions’ marijuana policy shift benefit the cannabis industry in 2018?
• Alaska gov appoints police chief to marijuana regulatory board
• Nevada senator wants active U.S. Attorney to take hands-off approach to recreational marijuana
• Senators to U.S. Treasury: Preserve marijuana banking access

The group’s aim is to spur a “healthy dialogue” on how to address discrepancies that exist between federal and state laws and to provide a clearer path for local municipalities, he said.

While a task force explores aligning federal and state cannabis laws, “we would request that the Department of Justice not initiate new enforcement actions in situations where operators are following state and local (cannabis) regulations,” the letter said. “This would provide certainty to the basic operation of local governments across the country.”

Leaders for Reform’s founding members hail from 11 states, though Colorado politicians comprise 80 of 109 signatories to the letter.

It was also published Wednesday as a full-page ad in the conservative-leaning The Washington Times newspaper in hopes of getting its message under the eyes of President Donald J. Trump, Pace said.

Learn more about Jeff Sessions rescission of the Cole Memo:

Leaders for Reform plans to further vocalize its position by continuing conversations with federal lawmakers as well as taking the message to the National Association of Counties’ 2018 Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Among the Congress members the group has already spoken with are Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, and Sen. Cory Gardner, D-Colorado, Pace said.

The coalition’s letter is the latest in a string of missives sent to Trump administration officials by state and federal legislators expressing concern over the Cole Memo’s removal and what that could mean for state-regulated legal cannabis businesses.

 

[Baron23]

I don't care if they were profiled or not...they were shit stupid and their actions are damaging to MJ legalization. This type of stuff provides the anti's with all the ammunition they need to claim interstate diversion. If you are going to OK from another state....or Kansas as another example...leave your big bags of weed behind, please.


Colorado marijuana activist arrested in Oklahoma for felony possession with intent to distribute
Regina Nelson claims the rental car she was driving was targeted by law enforcement because it had Colorado license plates

y Lindsey Bartlett, The Cannabist Staff

A Colorado cannabis activist arrested in Oklahoma on drug charges following a traffic stop claims a state trooper targeted the vehicle she was driving because it had Colorado license plates.

Regina Nelson, CEO of Boulder-based ECS Therapy Center, her adult son Bryan Laufenberg, and Michael E. Browning were arrested in Pittsburg County, Okla., on Sunday, Brianna Bailey of The Frontier first reported.

The vehicle Nelson was driving was pulled over by an Oklahoma State Patrol trooper for failing to use a turn signal, according to the court affidavit obtained by The Frontier. A search of the vehicle found several “rolled cigarettes with a green leafy substance” as well as two glass pipes, a peanut butter edible; a thermos filed with low-point beer; capsules filled with green oil and a backpack containing a digital scale and multiple baggies filled with a green leafy substance. A suitcase containing three large vacuum-sealed baggies of marijuana also was found in the car, The Frontier reported.

A Feb. 18 photo taken by Regina Nelson of colleague Michael Browning, who was detained by Oklahoma State Patrol following a search of the vehicle Nelson was driving. (Photo provided by Regina Nelson)
Nelson, Laufenberg, and Browning, Nelson’s colleague and co-author, each face a felony charge of possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, Nelson told The Cannabist Wednesday in a phone interview.

“This is just something that happens to people with Colorado plates,” she said. “We were absolutely targeted. It was a holiday weekend. There was a number of highway patrol in the area. We didn’t speed, we were minding all the traffic rules, but we were driving a rental car with Colorado plates on it.”

Related stories

• Postal Service employees plead guilty to stealing the marijuana you mailed to Oklahoma
• Police release bodycam footage of Oklahoma marijuana raid that killed 72-year-old woman
• Oklahoma governor sets date for voters to decide on medical marijuana
• Oklahoma will vote on medical marijuana next year — the question is when
• 2 briefly escape Oklahoma jail to visit girlfriends, smoke weed

Nelson spoke to The Cannabis from Tulsa, where she is scheduled to speak at a Thursday event with Oklahomans for Equality in support of State Question 788, a medical marijuana measure set to appear on the state’s ballot in June. She is also scheduled to speak Saturday at the Cannabis Education Advocacy Symposium & Expo in Oklahoma City. Both speeches are part of Nelson’s 2018 Plant a Seed for Cannabis Education World Tour.

Nelson, Laufenberg and Browning have pleaded not guilty to the charges, Nelson said. She and Browning plan to speak about their arrest at the upcoming events in Oklahoma.

Possession with intent to distribute or sell is a felony drug crime in Oklahoma. A first offense carries a minimum of 2 years in prison to a maximum of life in prison.

Nelson’s lawyer Brecken Wagner did not respond to a phone call from The Cannabist.

“I’m concerned about it, I am well aware we face serious consequences, I am also very aware, again, I feel this was targeted,” Nelson said. “For that reason, I don’t believe any of the evidence should reach the court house. We are using this as an educational platform because we have a voice. Law enforcement is very important to that effort, too. Every officer we encountered needs to know more about the issue.”

 

[Baron23]

Nation’s first social marijuana use license approved by Denver regulators
The approval of first-of-its-kind license wraps a busy February for Denver's efforts to enact voter-approved Initiative 300 allowing so-called 'pot clubs'


A Denver coffee shop received city approval Monday for the nation’s first business license to allow marijuana use by patrons, The Denver Post’s Jon Murray first reported.

The Coffee Joint soon can allow customers to vape or consume edibles they bring to the café at 1130 Yuma Court, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. No smoking will be allowed and the shop can’t sell any marijuana products.

The approval of first-of-its-kind license wraps a busy February for Denver’s efforts to enact Initiative 300, the 2016 voter-approved ballot measure allowing social marijuana use.

After filing the first application for a social use permit last December, The Coffee Joint made their initial public pitch to Denver officialson Feb. 9. No opponents of the business spoke during the two-hour hearing and a representative for the Lincoln Park neighborhood asked the city for approval. A Denver attorney that oversaw the hearing recommended on Feb. 14 that the city approve the proposal.

Meanwhile, the backers of a proposed marijuana spa filed the second-ever application for a Denver social use license on Feb. 7. Utopia All Natural Wellness Spa and Lounge submitted its application for a spa in the Creswell Mansion, 1244 Grant St. — just blocks from Colorado’s state Capitol.

The spa’s application will receive a public hearing within 60 days, Utopia founder and CEO Cindy Sovine told The Cannabist. If approved, her estimated timeline for receiving the permit to operate the spa is around 90 days.

I-300 was approved by 54 percent of Denver voters in November 2016, but the city didn’t start accepting applications until August 2017.

Proponents contend that city officials added too many hassles for potential applicants. Those include location restrictions that made potential applicants in many areas of the city ineligible because they are within 1,000 feet of schools, alcohol and drug treatment centers, and child-care facilities. State-imposed restrictions on businesses with liquor licenses also make it more difficult for bars to apply.

Op-ed: Denver should re-think the overly strict rules for social marijuana venues

While Denver on Monday made strides in implementing social marijuana use regulations and licenses, Massachusetts pumped the brakes on its plans to allow so-called “cannabis cafes” and home delivery of recreational marijuana, the Associated Press reported.

The state’s five-member Cannabis Control Commission voted Monday to postpone licensing home deliveries and the cafes until the fall while pushing forward to finalize regulations allowing the commercial sale of the drug in Massachusetts by July 1.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and law enforcement officials have voiced opposition to allowing pot cafes, saying they could pose a risk to public safety and public health.

 

[Baron23]

Wow, only $88.7M in January...only? haha

Have marijuana sales in Colorado reached a plateau?

Marijuana sales in Colorado appear to be reaching a plateau, with the industry growing at its lowest rate since recreational stores opened four years ago.

In January, customers bought $88,729,914 worth of recreational cannabis, up 17 percent over the same month last year. Sales growth used to be two and three times that. The slowing growth points to a maturing marijuana market in Colorado.

Some expected sales to fall more after Denver Police raided the Sweet Leaf marijuana chain for looping, where they allegedly allowed the same customer to buy the maximum one ounce of marijuana from the same store a dozen or more times in a day, to sell on the black market.

Some store owners say looping was never widespread in the industry, and the fact that sales seem unaffected by the high profile raids is evidence of that.

Of course, that’s not to say looping is not happening. The people who are collecting marijuana from stores to sell in other states may just be covering their tracks better by using different stores, rather than going to the same one multiple times.

The medical side of the market continues to shrink rapidly. The slide in sales began in mid-2016, and purchases have grown in only one month since then. Store owners say getting a medical card is a hurdle many customers are forgoing.

Still, the number of registered patients has remained steady. It grew by 14,945 people over the year. There are now 93,314 registered patients.

 

[Baron23]

Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving

Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving in hopes that it will produce real solutions.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is encouraging Coloradans to “join the cannabis conversation” about driving under the influence. The new initiative, called The Cannabis Conversation, seeks input from cannabis users and non-users alike.

Officials want to hear the opinions, habits, behaviors and other thoughts people have about marijuana and driving. But as Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving, the actual impact of legal cannabis on traffic safety isn’t fully understood.

The Department of Transportation hopes their drugged driving initiative will help the state develop practical solutions and assuage public concerns.

Colorado department of transportation launches drugged driving initiative

Around midsummer last year, newspapers in Colorado began running stories that recreational cannabis use was contributing to a spike in driving accident fatalities.

The Denver Post, for example, ran a story in August reporting that more drivers involved in fatal crashes were testing positive for marijuana use. Yet the authorities quoted in that story admitted that the numbers cannot definitely be attributed to recreational legalization.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that testing for cannabis consumption is tricky. Different detection methods test for consumption in different windows.

Did a driver involved in a fatal accident used cannabis prior to getting behind the wheel? Were they high while they were driving? Or did they just consume cannabis at some point in the past?

In short, the correlation of the data is strong. But proving causation is a different and more difficult matter. In their search for answers, Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving.

Colorado’s drugged driving problem by the numbers

Police, public safety officials, and victims families all say the numbers are too high to ignore. Between 2013-2016, drivers involved in fatal accidents in Colorado rose from 627 to 880, about a 40 percent uptick.

In the same period, drivers who tested positive for alcohol in those fatal crashed increased 17 percent. However, the number of drivers who tested positive for cannabis jumped from 47 in 2013 to 115 in 2016, a 145 percent spike.

Those numbers sounded the alarm for many public health and safety officials in Colorado. And CDOTs drugged driving initiative is the first significant step toward addressing what is undeniably a real concern for many.

Many suspect the root of the problem is cannabis users’ perception that driving high isn’t a major concern. And that’s why Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving.

Officials want to better understand why some cannabis users don’t seem to take the dangers associated with high driving very seriously. And more importantly, what it will take to make these drivers change their minds.

Colorado plans to survey residents on weed consumption and driving

The Department of Transportation’s survey is completely anonymous and only takes about five minutes to complete.

Questions range from the practical to the highly subjective. How often do you drive? Consume cannabis? And do you think society still stigmatizesmarijuana use?

The survey also wants to know where you consume cannabis, how you consume it, and who/where you get it from.

Midway through the survey, you have the feeling you’re being interrogated about your cannabis lifestyle in general, not just about your thoughts on driving.

But right about around question ten, the survey takes a turn back to questions that aim at the heart of the issue. Do you drink when you smoke? Do you drive? And when you are high, how do you get around? Are your stoned friends giving you a lift?

The survey, overall, is this odd blend of informative and perceptual questioning. Gathering data about real cannabis habits but also asking people to reveal how they think other people view them.

And more interestingly, how capable they think law enforcement is at identifying drugged driving.

Do you think cannabis makes you a better driver? What would convince you not to drive high? If you knew cops were just as good at catching high drivers than drunk drivers, would you drive high less often?

At the end, the survey pivots to what feels like a pop quiz about the legality of driving under the influence of cannabis.

The answers to these types questions are obviously “yes,” but CDOT isn’t sure people really understand the law. And finally, the most interesting question. Who would you believe, who would actually convince you, if they told you driving high was unsafe?