Dear Stoner: Does America still have a competitive spot among the rest of the world in the legal-cannabis space? Are we still leading?
Rece
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The forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have much larger implications for where Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump is heading, but ousting ol’ Jeffy was a score for the marijuana industry.
Denver’s struggles with regulating social marijuana use have been well documented, but this city isn’t alone in facing such challenges. According to representatives from Alaska and Oregon, cities such as Portland and Anchorage are in the same boat.
Craft brewers are known for their collaborative spirit. But that’s within the walls of the beer world. When it comes to other vices — like wine, spirits and cannabis — some industry leaders have been a bit standoffish.
A lawsuit filed by two Colorado landowners who claim that a nearby marijuana grow has reduced their property values in part because the smell makes horseback riding less pleasant goes to trial in Denver federal court today. And the repercussions of the suit’s strategy, based on federal racketeering laws, could have far-reaching effects on the cannabis industry in Colorado and beyond.
Colorado’s cannabis industry is still changing at a rapid pace. The industry’s watchdog, the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, updates its rules and regulations every year in hopes of catching up with the expanding field, which is growing like a weed in more ways than one.
When Adolphus A. Busch V, the great-great-grandson of Eberhard Adolphus Anheuser Busch, announced the launch of his Colorado-based cannabis brand on October 10, there were plenty of easy assumptions to make about big alcohol’s infiltration of legal weed. But the Colorado State University graduate says Budweiser and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, have nothing to do with his new venture, ABV Cannabis Co.
Once Canada began its cannabis legalization efforts, investors’ eyes shifted from the fragmented state policies in America to a federal government up north that was open for business. The money soon followed: Reports of massive investments from companies like Molson-Coors and rumors of interest from Coca-Cola continue to swirl around Canada’s new legal cannabis sector (legalization will officially begin October 17) — and Colorado brands have taken notice.
Commercial marijuana products sold in Colorado may have to start undergoing heavy-metals testing as soon as 2019, according to the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Although not as intimidating as Slayer and Megadeath, heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel can be harmful if inhaled, ingested or applied to the skin regularly. According to the National Institutes of Health, long-term exposure to heavy metals can lead to liver or kidney damage, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, heart abnormalities, a disrupted nervous system, anemia and more.
Four weeks from now, voters in Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota and Utah will all be deciding measures that would lift legal restrictions on marijuana — but all in different ways. And Colorado, too, has another marijuana-related issue on the ballot.