Author Kate Simmons

Carol A. Morrison and May Alice Wells, known as Cush and Cat, respectively, were enjoying the social use of cannabis before social use was cool. The pair operates one of the most unusual venues on Colorado’s cannabis scene: Sacred Smoke Sanctuary, located at 3704 Downing Street.

After moving from New York to Colorado in 2014, they started renovating the 4,000-square-foot space. Since then, it’s been part church, part art studio, part rehearsal space, part theater, part lounge and part residence, and the couple has welcomed all cannabis-loving people into their world. Since the building is a private residence and their landlord has okayed cannabis use, they’ve been able to host events with cannabis on the property since long before Denver voters approved 300, the social-use ordinance — and they can continue to do so.

Jim Parco grew up in Pueblo. He remembers when the county had a thriving steel industry, and he witnessed the devastation of losing it. Pueblo never really recovered, and it remained one of the most economically depressed counties in the state for decades.

When Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, in November 2012, Jim saw an opportunity. The Air Force lieutenant colonel moved home and started a dispensary with his wife, Pam. Since then, Pueblo County has seen an economic boom — all thanks to marijuana.

Being labeled “organic” doesn’t necessarily mean a product isorganic, and sustainable growers in the cannabis industry have long struggled to find ways to differentiate themselves from those who co-opt that term. Now L’Eagle has become the first dispensary to receive the Certifiably Green Denver certification from the city.

One of the last true mom-and-pop dispensaries in the city, L’Eagle is run by Amy Andrle and her husband, John, who have always worked to ensure that their product is environmentally sustainable. From avoiding harmful sprays on the flower to implementing best practices from agricultural science, L’Eagle has fought to keep its product green since the dispensary began in 2010.

This fall has seen a myriad of crime related to marijuana home grows. At last week’s Marijuana Management Symposium, a panel on law enforcement and public safety comprising Denver Police Commander James Henning,  former Erie police chief Marco Vasquez and Aurora Police Sergeant Scott Pendleton advised law enforcement reps from other states on what Colorado has done right in handling cannabis-related crimes — and what it should have done differently.

Henning addressed the issue of cannabis home grows, which he says have become a bigger problem in Colorado since Amendment 64 passed. “The black market and marijuana, it got big here,” he said. “It got much bigger. The black market in marijuana is booming.”