Marijuana
Colorado set to use marijuana money to implement opioid treatment program in worst-hit counties
UPDATE: The governor signed this bill into law on Wednesday, a day after this story was originally published.
—
DENVER – Colorado is set to use a half-million dollars of its marijuana sales money each year for at least the next two years to implement an opioid addiction treatment program for two of the state’s counties hit hardest by the surging opioid crisis. Continue reading
Bipartisan bills to protect marijuana from federal crackdown introduced by Colo. members of Congress
DENVER – Efforts to protect states with legal marijuana programs from any possible federal crackdown are gaining bipartisan momentum in Congress, and several of Colorado’s lawmakers are playing a big part in trying to get legislation passed.
U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D) and Mike Coffman (R) introduced a bill Thursday that revises the federal Controlled Substances Act to keep Congress or any federal entities from interfering in legal state marijuana markets.
The two introduced a similar bill in 2012 after Colorado voters first approved the constitutional amendment that legalized recreational marijuana in the state, but it ultimately failed.
“This bill makes clear that we’re not going back to the days of raids on legal dispensaries, of folks living in fear that they’re not going to get the medical marijuana they need, or that they might get jailed for using it,” DeGette said.
“While I have opposed the legalization of marijuana, the people of Colorado voted for an initiative in 2012 that legalized marijuana and placed it in our state’s constitution,” Coffman said.
“Since it this is clearly not a matter of interstate commerce, I believe that the people of Colorado had every right, under the U.S. Constitution, to decide this issue for themselves and as their representative in Congress, I have an obligation to respect the will of the people of Colorado and that’s why I’m reintroducing this bill with Congresswoman DeGette,” he continued.
Their bill comes a day after U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner (R) and Michael Bennet (D), along with a bipartisan group of senators, introduced a bill that would ease regulations on how marijuana businesses are allowed to deal with banks.
It would bar federal regulators from stopping or penalizing a bank from working with legal marijuana businesses or taking away FDIC approval from the bank. It would also stop banks and regulators from barring loans to people operating legal marijuana businesses.
While some Colorado marijuana businesses now allow people to use debit or credit cards, many still operate on cashless ATM or cash-only systems.
“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.
Rep. Jared Polis (D) introduced a bill earlier this year that aims to have the feds regulate marijuana like alcohol.
Also introduced in recent weeks was a bill by Virginia Republican Rep. Thomas Garrett, which lifts federal restrictions on medical and recreational marijuana programs and allows states to operate their own. The bill also has support from both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Mike Coffman says ‘cloud’ hanging over Trump administration, causing polarized Congress
DENVER – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman says the appointment of a special prosecutor in the ongoing probe into Russia’s alleged ties with members of President Trump’s campaign and administration is the only way to cut through the “cloud” hanging over the White House and Congress.
Coffman sat down for a one-on-one interview with Denver7 Friday, moments after White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrapped up a contentious press briefing in which he was grilled over Trump’s statements earlier this week in which he hinted that he had fired former FBI Director James Comey because of the Russia probe. Continue reading
Draft rules for Denver’s social marijuana clubs released; patron waiver draws early concern
DENVER – Businesses looking to get one of Denver’s first-of-its-kind social marijuana consumption permits got their first look Thursday at the stringent draft of rules and regulations they will likely have to adhere to if they want one of the permits.
Denver voters approved Initiative 300 last November, which opens up the possibility for the existence of the clubs. The city, state and local organizations have been hammering out exactly what requirements the businesses have to follow since. Continue reading
Hickenlooper says special session might be coming to address roads, health care funding
DENVER – Colorado’s legislative session ended Wednesday, but the Legislature could be back at the Capitol this month after Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday he’s considering calling a special session to address what he sees as shortfalls in addressing transportation and health care budget concerns.
Both parties were able to reach some last-minute bipartisan agreements that brought some money in to address state roads and highways, health care concerns, education issues and construction defects. Continue reading
Bennet, other Dems ‘very concerned’ about administration’s stances on opioids, marijuana
DENVER – U.S. Sen Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and five other Senate Democrats sent a letter this week to the acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy saying they are concerned about the administration’s “open hostility” to states with legal marijuana and possible budget cuts that they say could exacerbate the opioid crisis.
The letter was signed by six Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and sent to Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Director Richard Baum on Monday.
Baum had previously asked the committee for input on the administration’s new drug control policy, and Monday’s letter was the Democrats’ response.
“We appreciate any sincere efforts to combat substance use disorders. We are concerned that this administration may revert to a policy that focuses on the criminal justice system over public health efforts,” the letter reads.
The senators say proposed 95 percent budget cuts to the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the repeal of several Obama-era policies aimed at responding to the opioid epidemic and other illicit drug use would have far-reaching negative effects on addressing drug abuse.
“A meaningful effort to combat substance use disorders must focus on the full implementation of [the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act], adequate funding for [the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration], and improving the Affordable Care Act by expanding access to mental health and substance use disorder services and health insurance,” the letter says.
The senators called the Republican replacement for Obamacare, the American Health Care Act, a “major step backwards in the prevention and treatment of drug addiction.”
“We are very concerned that this administration will exacerbate the opioid epidemic rather than alleviate it,” the letter said.
But the senators said they were also worried about the administration’s stance on how it might enforce federal laws regarding legal marijuana.
“We are also concerned by the administration’s open hostility to state policies legalizing or decriminalizing the possession and use of medical or recreational marijuana,” the senators wrote.
They suggested that the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Agency target deadly drugs instead of focusing any efforts on legal marijuana, which has never itself killed anyone.
“Particularly given the severity of the ongoing opioid use epidemic, federal resources should be targeted at providing comprehensive substance use disorder programs and cutting off the flow of deadly drugs rather than interfering with state regulatory regimes for marijuana,” the letter said.
The administration and Jeff Sessions-led Justice Department are still reviewing their policies.
Medical marijuana safe from federal crackdown through September, according to near-final budget
DENVER – Colorado’s medical marijuana is safe from a federal crackdown through at least September, after lawmakers worked a rider into the bipartisan budget deal to protect states with medical marijuana programs.
The section of the budget deal pertaining to medical marijuana (pages 230-231) says that the Department of Justice may not use any budgetary funds “to prevent any of [a list of states, districts and territories] from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” Continue reading
US marijuana sales on 4/20 up 20 percent from 2016, report says
DENVER – States with legal marijuana programs had their most-successful 4/20 marijuana holiday ever this year, seeing a 20 percent increase in total sales over 2016, according to a report.
MJ Freeway, which tracks U.S. retail marijuana sales, says nationwide sales topped $45 million on April 20 and were 20 percent higher than last year’s numbers.
The organization says it saw a 13 percent increase in the number of orders placed across the country, and that the average amount spent was $77.21.
The increase in sales was predicted by MJ Freeway because more states have legalized marijuana over the past year, but the organization predicted sales would be slightly lower.
Colorado has yet to finalize its numbers for 4/20 or April, but estimated it transferred $16.3 million in taxes in February alone. The state sold about $1.3 billion in marijuana last year, which brought the state around $200 million in tax revenue.
4/20 is generally the day that sees the most marijuana sales, followed by New Year’s Eve and July 4.
Either medical or recreational marijuana, or both, are available in 28 states and the District of Columbia.
Enjoy this content? Follow Denver7 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and download the Denver7 app on iOS and Android devices for continual access to breaking news, weather and sports.
Colorado police found 262 pounds of marijuana on side of road on 4/20
MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. – Somebody dumped 262 pounds of marijuana on the side of a road in Manitou Springs on 4/20.
The Manitou Springs Police Department recovered the pot, which was stuffed into 11 55-gallon trash bags, along the side of the road near Crystal Hills Boulevard, according to KRDO.
Police had been tipped off to suspicious activity at a vacation rental home about 1.5 miles away earlier in the day, but upon investigating found nothing suspicious.
But before finding the marijuana, officers were tipped off again to two men seen driving a white van up to the rental home and leaving shortly afterward. Police valued the marijuana at $1.5 million.
KRDO reports that police believe the van and the marijuana are connected, though officers never found the van. They are asking anyone with information to call the El Paso County Dispatch Center at 719-390-5555.
Enjoy this content? Follow Denver7 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and download the Denver7 app on iOS and Android devices for continual access to breaking news, weather and sports.
National marijuana movement shows no signs of slowing Colorado, which now has more pot biz than ever
DENVER – The recreational marijuana industry is catching up to the medical industry in Colorado in terms of the number of licenses issued by the state, and a tiny northeastern Colorado town has one of the highest concentration of licenses in the state.
The new insight into the state’s burgeoning marijuana industry comes from a compilation of state data by Paul Seaborn, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, in his latest report: “Colorado Marijuana Market Report.”
Seaborn used monthly marijuana licensing data from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division to note changes in the number of licenses issued statewide over the past several years.
He notes that there are now more active marijuana businesses in Colorado than ever before – a blow to the notion that the wave of other states legalizing marijuana might hurt the nation’s first legal recreational industry.
In fact, Seaborn found, the recreational industry has nearly caught up to the medical industry in terms of the number of businesses operating in the state.
The report says that recreational businesses now account for 47.5 percent of marijuana business in Colorado (up from 45.5 percent in December 2016), and that medical businesses made up 52.5 percent (down from 54.5 percent in December).
The report adds that retail dispensary, cultivation and manufacturing licenses have increased in number since December, while their medical counterparts have decreased.
Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and implemented its recreational program in 2014 after voters approved its legalization in 2012. Recreational marijuana sales outpaced medical sales last year, when the state sold $1.3 billion worth of pot.
Denver continues to account for more than one-third of the state’s licenses, according to the report, which found that Colorado Springs, Boulder, Pueblo and Pueblo West rounded out the top five. Trinidad surpassed Aurora for the first time in numbers of active licenses.
But cracking the top 15 cities in terms of the number of licenses for the first time was tiny Log Lane Village – a town of about 900 near Fort Morgan along I-76 in northeastern Colorado.
There are 18 active business licenses in the tiny town, meaning there is one business license for roughly every 50 people in the town. By comparison, Denver has about one license per every 560 residents, when using July 2016 population data.
The report shows that 121 towns and cities in Colorado now have at least one active marijuana business license.
Native Roots and LivWell continue to have the largest number of licenses, and Green Solution has the third-most. But Seaborn’s report says that no single business has more than 2.1 percent of the state’s licenses.
For more, read the full report here.
Enjoy this content? Follow Denver7 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and download the Denver7 app on iOS and Android devices for continual access to breaking news, weather and sports.