Ben DrozCongress made long-awaited history this week when it put language that would legalize industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, which President Donald Trump is expected to sign into law.
Ben DrozBrowsing: Legislation
Ben Droz
WestwordDear Stoner: How long would it take marijuana to be legalized nationally on a state-by-state basis?
Chug Rug
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has announced a new citywide effort to expunge low-level marijuana convictions that occurred in Denver before recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado.
Jacqueline CollinsDenver’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.
Jacqueline CollinsColorado’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.
Google Maps screenshotMoffat was a major cattle shipping center along the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in the early 1900s, but over the past century the population of this town in southern Colorado dwindled, until it now holds barely 100 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
“I think they were counting the dogs and cats when they did that,” says former Moffat mayor Brian Morgan. “Now we need to figure out how to add more housing, because Moffat doesn’t have a lot.”
Jacqueline CollinsDenver may be a leader in regulating recreational cannabis sales, but it’s hard to say the same about recreational cannabis consumption. Despite allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in town for over a decade and retail pot shops for nearly five years, Denver’s attempts to address social pot use have fallen just a few degrees above flat.
Anthony CameraRecent Colorado Department of Transportation figures show that stoned-driving fatalities went down from 2016 to 2017 for those over the legal intoxication limit but up in fatal crashes involving drivers who tested positive for any marijuana in their system, whether above the line or under it. Such mixed results are typical according to a new report, which acknowledges that getting firm answers about the risks involved with driving high remains an enormous challenge.
Jacqueline CollinsA small but growing segment of the medical marijuana market could be kept off shelves in Colorado as government regulators and the pot industry scramble to figure out how to safely produce and monitor cannabis nasal sprays, inhalers and suppositories.
Courtesy of Native RootsAlthough most of us think of marijuana as just a plant, it’s actually sold in many different varieties, including flower and extracted concentrates for smoking or vaping, edibles, drinks, lotions and a myriad of other infused products.