Back in April, Governor John Hickenlooper and the governors of three other states that have legalized recreational marijuana sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, urging them to respect the rights of states to pass such measures, and to consult with the states that have been operating under 2013’s Cole Memorandum before making any enforcement changes.
Browsing: Legalize It
Dear Stoner: I use hemp CBD oil for stress and anxiety maybe once or twice a month. The CBD contains 0.04 percent THC, and I am worried it will show up in a drug test I took a week ago. Will I pass?
George
George
Dear Stoner: I’m a chronic-pain patient in a state that hasn’t legalized marijuana. I’ve been prescribed opioids for years, which has led to depression and anxiety issues. Is there any way for me to mail-order THC and CBD edibles from a legalized state?
LeighAnn
Kevin Sabet, the president and CEO of Virginia-based Smart Approaches to Marijuana, has become arguably the most influential critic of marijuana legalization in the United States. But in an extended interview on view below, he fights against the perception that he’s a one-dimensional prohibitionist along the lines of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sabet stresses that he and his organization, shorthanded as SAM, take what he sees as a sensible approach to cannabis by arguing in favor of treatment rather than jail time for users in trouble and advocating for greater study of the substance to determine the best ways to utilize it medically.
Astrological vibes will take hold of America on August 21, when a solar eclipse will stretch across the United States. It will be close to complete in Colorado, and the path of totality is just a few hours away, in Wyoming.
In fact, Wyoming is considered one of the best places in the West to view the eclipse, with between 250,000 and 500,000 people expected to head into the state, taking advantage of its clear skies and place in the eclipse’s direct line. Towns from Jackson to Torrington are on the path, and Casper, four hours up I-25, is even holding a five-day festival leading up to the eclipse; the Astronomical League is holding its annual convention there just before the eclipse.
Colorado’s cannabis industry has been holding its collective breath ever since President Donald Trump nominated Jeff Sessions for attorney general. And since he was sworn in, Sessions, a proponent of the war on drugs, hasn’t been shy about saying that marijuana should remain illegal federally.
In a proactive move, on April 3 the governors of four states with recreational cannabis businesses up and running at the time — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — sent a letter to Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, urging that federal officials “engage with us before embarking on any changes to regulatory and enforcement systems.”
Jeff Hunt, the vice president of public policy at Colorado Christian University, invited Westword and others to share his op-ed titled “Marijuana Devastated Colorado, Don’t Legalize It Nationally” earlier this week. Although we declined, USA Today obliged in spreading Hunt’s reefer-madness gospel on August 7. And Hunt’s piece — as well as the alleged facts, studies and sources he used to hammer home his point — elicited quite the response.
Dear Stoner: Does someone have to be eighteen to buy CBD products? What if they’re made from hemp? I see some in dispensaries and others in regular stores.
J.W.
Among those at the center of an unprecedented lawsuit filed against Attorney General Jeff Sessions over federal scheduling of marijuana is Alexis Bortell, eleven, who had to move with her family from Texas to the Colorado community of Larkspur in order to legally use medical cannabis, which has eliminated the epileptic seizures she regularly suffered. She represents a group of patients that her lawyer, Michael Hiller, describes as “medical marijuana refugees.”