Toke of the Town

Browsing: Busted

The Hemp Was Legal in Colorado. Kansas Didn’t Care.

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By on Busted, Follow that story, Hemp

Eric Jensen feels trapped. By now, the 43-year-old thought he’d be able to travel from his home in southeastern Colorado to see his son play college ball in the Midwest. But instead, he can’t cross the border into Kansas. He’s stuck hanging around his home town, where most of the residents have turned their backs on him, believing that he’s a hardened drug dealer. Instead, he’s facing criminal charges for something that’s completely legal in Colorado: hemp.

Eric and his brother, 39-year-old Ryan Jensen, grew up in the town of Holly, ten miles from the Kansas border. Early on, they started working on the family farm, the fourth generation to do so, and by 2007, they’d taken over for their father, Robert. They grew wheat and corn and onions and cabbage, which was harvested and shipped to grocery stores across the country. But their biggest crop was cantaloupe.

Largest Pot Bust in Colorado History Claims Over 80,000 Plants

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By on Busted, Feds 'N Heads

Colorado law enforcement officers, district attorneys and federal authorities collaborated on what they describe as the largest collective marijuana bust in the state’s history.

During a press conference on May 24, Jason Dunn, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, discussed the two-year investigation that included nearly 250 location searches in eight counties across the state and led to 42 arrests after raids over the last three days.

Over 70,000 Illegal Weed Plants Pulled From Colorado Public Land in 2017

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By on Busted, Feds 'N Heads, Follow that story, Growing

Government reports recently revealed that over 665,000 pounds of legal marijuana were sold in Colorado last year, but that number hardly accounted for every sale in the state. Although market research shows that Colorado’s marijuana black market has become significantly smaller than the rest of the country’s since retail dispensaries showed up in 2014, it hasn’t evaporated altogether.

Various law enforcement agencies collaborated on a network of raids on illegal marijuana grows in at least five towns and two counties on August 9, as first reported by the Denver Post — and the marijuana seized from the raids could be small potatoes compared to what’s happening on public land in Colorado.

Hoppz Cropz Free Marijuana Case: 175 Charges Dismissed So Far

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By on Busted, Cannabusiness, Follow that story

As of last July, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office Hoppz Cropz prosecution was likely the largest marijuana conspiracy case in the state: thirteen defendants charged with a combined 244 crimes, including racketeering under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, for illegally peddling nearly 200 pounds of cannabis.

Nearly a year later, a hefty 175 of those allegations have been dismissed and ten of the original thirteen people accused, including Dara Wheatley, the significant other of presumed ringleader Joseph “Joey Hops” Hopper, have pleaded guilty to comparatively minor crimes that haven’t resulted in any jail time whatsoever. A document detailing these twists and turns is accessible below.

CBD Fight: Claims, Counterclaims and a Woman Named Swindler

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By on Busted, Cannabusiness, CBD, Hemp

CBD products are touted for their healing properties. But even they would have a hard time mending the rift that’s torn apart a Colorado CBD company, which has dissolved amid dueling lawsuits, with one alleging a scheme to funnel more than $1 million to an animal sanctuary in Costa Rica and the other focusing on $300,000 in missing meds and a series of accused co-conspirators, one of whom is named Natalia Swindler.

At the center of this drama is John Merritt, the man behind Full Spectrum Nutrition Inc., a Colorado Springs operation that’s currently in limbo.

Denver Cannabis Church Founders See Trial Postponed to September 2018

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By on Busted, Culture, Follow that story

Nearly fifteen months after the 4/20 holiday when founders of the International Church of Cannabis were accused of promoting public cannabis consumption and violating the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act — two misdemeanors that carry penalties of no more than several hundred dollars in fines — Steve Berke, Briley Hale and Lee Molloy are still awaiting trial.

400-Plus Fake IDs Seized in Breck Pot Shops Since 2015, Most From Tourists

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By on Busted, Cannabusiness, Dispensaries

Plenty of underage tourists who come to Colorado seem to think a bogus identification card will work just as well at a pot shop as it will at a bar. But according to Haley Littleton, spokesperson for the Town of Breckenridge, which has catalogued at least 428 fake ID cases since February 2015 with no end in sight, they’re wrong.

“Our main theory is that people come into town and think, ‘This is great. I can take advantage of this,'” Littleton says. “But it’s not like at a bar, where you can go in, try to order and then give them an ID, and if they just glance at it quickly, you might get a drink or you might not. Marijuana dispensaries are really stringent on fake IDs — and so are we.”

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