They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — but in 2018, imitation can also be simple mockery. Count a Denver dispensary chain’s decision to name a marijuana strain after United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions among the latter.
Author Toke of the Town
I desperately tried to tiptoe around the flu bug that just swept through Denver, popping vitamin C and obsessively washing my hands for weeks. Didn’t matter. Within twelve hours of feeling a tickle in my throat, fluids were exiting my body as though I were a Civil War soldier stricken with dysentery. And after finally breaking through a weeklong Nyquil haze, I was ready for some cannabinoid relief — an indica, to be specific.
Fourth-generation farmer Randy Taylor has watched potential income disappear as a hailstorm obliterated plants on the 7,000 acres that he oversees. But having to destroy crops himself is a tougher pill to swallow.
If you’re thinking about starting a cannabis grow in your house but aren’t an expert botanist, don’t worry: There’s now an app for that. The first app to offer personal horticulture services specifically for weed launched on the Apple App Store at the end of January.
Dear Stoner: Do you know of any strains that can help turn me or my lady on? We think a sensual smoke session would be fun.
Dirty Mike
The National Cannabis Industry Association is taking one of its marquee events from Denver to the East Coast. The NCIA Seed to Sale Show, which has been held in the Mile High City for the past two years (the 2018 show ran February 7-8 at the Colorado Convention Center), will move to Boston in 2019, according to an announcement from the NCIA.
Around noon on November 20, 2017, mere hours after Denver Environmental Health announced a ban on the sale of kratom for human consumption in the city, DEH representatives stormed into the 5800 East Colfax Avenue branch of Myxed Up Creations, which had been selling the popular herbal pain reliever, and ordered stock valued in the thousands of dollars to be destroyed on the spot. Michael Gross, the shop’s attorney, who likened the action to “a commando raid,” managed to prevent the supply from being trashed, and now the Denver agency’s own board is allowing the kratom in question to be transferred to Myxed Up’s sister stores outside the city limits after criticizing the way the matter was handled. But as many as fourteen other businesses in Denver weren’t so lucky.
New sales revenue data from the Colorado Department of Revenue shows that the state’s legal cannabis industry collected over $1.5 billion in 2017 and accounted for nearly $4.5 billion in sales since recreational stores first opened on January 1, 2014.
At this writing, thirty states and the District of Columbia have legalized some form of marijuana, be it recreational, medical or both, with Colorado having been in the latter category for more than four years. Nonetheless, Facebook and Instagram continue to make it difficult for cannabis businesses to advertise and promote themselves on the platforms. The scenario causes frustration within the industry even as it forces marketers to come up with clever ways to get around restrictions.
The cannabis industry has no shortage of entrepreneurs fighting to gain a toehold in the field, but one of the industry’s most well-known names got there almost by accident. Ricardo Baca had been covering music for the Denver Post for over a decade when Colorado legalized the plant recreationally, and he was a bit befuddled when his bosses asked him to lead what would become the Cannabist , the first cannabis vertical for a major daily newspaper.