Author Michael Roberts

Update: In January, we reported about surveys being sent to prosecutors and law enforcement officials in Kansas by attorney general Derek Schmidt in an effort to determine how Colorado cannabis was negatively impacting the good people of that state; our previous coverage has been incorporated into this post.

Nine months later, Schmidt has delivered the fruit of this labor — “‘Legalization’ of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact on Kansas,” a report on view below. And a summary of the results suggests that the quality of cannabis available in the state has improved significantly thanks to Kansas’s proximity to Colorado.

In July, four doctors were suspended for allegedly recommending cannabis to patients who didn’t need it for health-related reasons after being referred to the Colorado Medical Board by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Now, however, the CDPHE’s referral process has been struck down in Denver District Court. In a ruling on view below, Judge Jay S. Grant found that the policy had been improperly instituted and ordered the state to immediately stop enforcing it.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling about gun sales to medical marijuana patients doesn’t directly pertain to Colorado, but attorney Rob Corry worries that it will still have an impact.

Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal ban on gun sales to medical marijuana patients was constitutional. But since the court’s jurisdiction doesn’t include Colorado, local patients aren’t affected, right?

Not so fast, says marijuana attorney Rob Corry. When asked if the ruling could eventually lead to greater limitations on the ability of Colorado medical marijuana license holders to purchase firearms, Corry replies, “Yes, there is that danger.”

Lance Johnstone during an appearance on Jamaican TV.

Earlier this month, we told you about the first annual O.penVAPE Open, a charity golf tournament scheduled to take place on Monday, September 12, and noted that former NFL players would be among those hitting the links.

One of the most intriguing participants on the schedule is Lance Johnstone, who spent eleven years in the NFL during the last half of the 1990s and the first part of the 2000s, much of it as a defensive end for the dreaded Oakland Raiders.

Why the hell is the faux marijuana known as spice so popular in pot-friendly Colorado?

This question was prompted by a 169-count indictment issued by a Jefferson County grand jury against John Swanson and Michael Whitney late last month. As noted by the First Judicial District DA’s office, the two men are accused of “manufacturing, distribution and sale of herbal cigarettes laced with synthetic cannabinoid,” defined as “a chemical that is sprayed onto a plant-based material. Its most common street name is ‘spice.'”

Kayvan Khalatbari, second from right, and other proponents of the Neighborhood Supported Cannabis Consumption Pilot Program at the Denver Elections Division. Additional photos and more below.

Update: Only days after the Denver NORML-sponsored Denver Responsible Use Initiative fell short of qualifying for the November ballot, the Denver Elections Division announced that the Neighborhood Supported Cannabis Consumption Pilot Program has passed muster.

Denver voters will now have a chance to weigh in about the proposal, which will allow marijuana use in social settings — specifically selected bars and restaurants in the Mile High City, as outlined in our previous coverage below.

For more than half a decade, administrators at CU Boulder have done everything possible to ensure that the university no longer appears among the top ten on the Princeton Review‘s annual list of reefer madness schools.

And once again, they’ve failed. As usual, CU Boulder is on the 2016 roster — and it hasn’t disappeared from the upper ranks of Princeton Review’s party schools roster, either.

Grassroots Colorado was a marijuana club closed after a 4/20 weekend raid in 2015.

Update: The Denver Responsible Use Initiative, a Denver NORML-backed proposal intended to create venues for the social consumption of cannabis in the Mile High City, fell short of qualifying for the November ballot — and attorney Judd Golden, who was both the author of the initiative and one of its primary proponents, has a major takeaway from the experience.

“It highlights the need to increase voter registration in Denver,” he says. “We were just shocked by the number of people who said they were registered voters who weren’t.”

The late Jack Splitt.

Update: Back in June, Jack Splitt was at the center of a joyous scene.

As seen in our previous coverage below, he was alongsisde his mom, Stacey Linn, the executive director of the CannAbility Foundation, as Governor John Hickenlooper, a seat away, signed a bill allowing young medical marijuana patients like him to take their cannabis-based medication at school — something that had previously been forbidden. The resulting legislation became known as Jack’s Law.

Just over two months later, that triumph has turned into tragedy. Jack, who suffered from cerebral palsy, has died at the age of fifteen.

A photo from the Kansas State Patrol Facebook page.

For years, we’ve written about reports of marijuana profiling.

The claims consistently maintain that law enforcers in jurisdictions beyond this state are more apt to stop vehicles for marijuana-related searches if they’re outfitted with Colorado license plates.

Such tactics were always controversial. Now, a federal court says they’re totally unjustified.