| Jason Lauve. |
Five years ago today, Jason Lauve was acquitted in a high-profile medical marijuana case decided on the cusp of the MMJ boom. Since the conclusion of the landmark trial, Lauve is astonished by everything that’s happened on the Colorado pot scene. But while he’s optimistic about the future for both cannabis and hemp, for which he’s become a well-known activist, he acknowledges that not all the changes have been positive.
Lauve broke his back in 2004 after being hit by a snowboarder. He subsequently became a medical marijuana patient under the provisions of Amendment 20, the measure that legalized the concept after being approved by voters in 2000. But in June 2008, he was arrested in Boulder County for allegedly having too much weed — two pounds, two ounces.
The trial on this charge took place from August 3-6 of 2009, and in the end, Lauve was acquitted after a jury determined that the language of Colorado’s medical marijuana law, Amendment 20, was vague in regard to how much marijuana was medically necessary.
That ruling kicked off a chain reaction that, by most accounts, led the state to where it is today with limited amounts of medical and recreational marijuana legalized and the existence of state-approved dispensaries.
Read the full interview with Lauve over at the Denver Westword.
