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The FlyHi 420 Festival, part of the annual celebration of the unofficial 4/20 holiday at Denver’s Civic Center Park every April 20, has been canceled over coronavirus concerns.

Shortly after Mayor Michael Hancock banned all on-site service at Denver bars and restaurants as of March 17, and days after Governor Jared Polis temporarily banned any public gatherings of over 250 people, 420 fest organizers announced that the festival and free concert set for Monday, April 20, at Civic Center would be canceled.

Virtually every part of the economy has been affected by efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus, and that includes the legal cannabis industry. Marijuana and hemp conferences in Colorado that had been scheduled for the spring are postponing or canceling altogether, while pot-friendly hospitality establishments are dealing with cancellations and non-stop efforts to sanitize.

Business owners and travelers have been scrambling to respond to daily developments, leaving event organizers “with loads of uncertainty,” according to Philip Wolf, CEO of Denver’s annual Cannabis Wedding Expo. Originally scheduled for April 5 in Lakewood, the expo was postponed until October 25 after Wolf spoke with vendors, would-be attendees and government officials. He’s also pushed back a Cannabis Wedding Expo in Las Vegas from March to October.

Colorado marijuana dispensaries broke an annual sales record for the sixth straight year in 2019, and they’re already on track for a new high in 2020.

According to data from the state Department of Revenue, Colorado dispensaries racked up just under $140 million in sales during the first month of the new year. Although that figure reflects a slight dip from December 2019’s $143.75 million, January 2020’s sales are easily the highest total for any January since recreational dispensaries opened in 2014, and more than 12 percent higher than January 2019’s $124.9 million.

Organizers of the NoCo Hemp Expo — definitely Colorado’s, and possibly the country’s, largest annual hemp-industry conference — have just announced that it will be postponed because of worries over COVID-19.

The expo, originally slated for March 26 through 28 at Denver’s National Western Complex and Renaissance Denver Stapleton Hotel, will now be held August 6 through 8 at the same locations, according to NoCo Hemp expo producer Morris Beegle.

While the cannabis industry’s appetite for energy use is already widely documented, we’re still learning more about other forms of legal pot’s impact on the environment, such as packaging and extraction waste, as well as how growing nutrients affect soil.

One environmental factor we didn’t see coming? Terpenes.

Terpenes are molecules responsible for the smells and flavors of cannabis, hops, pine trees and every other plant aroma. As growers began to breed cannabis to achieve flavor profiles that taste more like oranges, grapes or pine than weed, terpenes quickly became all the rage in legal cannabis — to the point that they’re now extracted and mixed with THC concentrate for a more flavorful dab.

Marijuana use among Denver teenagers stayed flat from 2018 to 2019, and was lower than the national average in some age ranges, according to a new city study.

The Denver survey, funded by local marijuana sales tax revenue, found that 81 percent of Denver youth aged thirteen to seventeen said they were not regular users of marijuana last year, compared to 80 percent in 2018, while 24 percent admitted to trying marijuana once or twice in 2019, a 3 percent rise from the year before.

Marijuana’s future in the United States remains a hot topic as Super Tuesday approaches. Formerly dismissed by virtually every presidential candidate, supporting pot legalization now seems a prerequisite for any
Democratic hopeful. The level of support varies, however, with some candidates preferring giving states the right to choose, while others are pledging to legalize marijuana through executive action if need be.

Before you submit your ballot for the March 3 count, read the past and present pot opinions of the eight Democratic contenders below.

If you smoke a lot of pot, you might find yourself in trouble at the blackjack table, according to a newly released study from Oregon State University.

Using a card simulation where participants try to earn as much money as possible by choosing from different decks, the study found that participants who used marijuana at least five times a week in the past year were prone to choosing decks with large rewards but larger losses, leading them to have a low net score for the task. Those who reported minimal to no use of marijuana chose decks with small rewards and small losses, but scored a high net score by the end of the task, researchers note.

A marijuana speakeasy is on the verge of opening in Denver.

At first, the Bodega sign offering color TVs, VCRs, blunts and joint papers looks like old-school homage to an East Coast corner market, with shelves of snacks, Latin food, piñatas and a random assortment of goods and electronics for sale inside. But while we couldn’t take pictures inside, trust that there’s more than just soft drinks behind the old Squirt soda machine on the wall: It’s actually a secret door leading to a glossy, marijuana-friendly lounge boasting booths, flatscreen TVs and a coffee bar.

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