Update: The Colorado Senate just approved SB 17-17; Kent Lambert was the only no vote. It now moves on to the House. Here’s our original story:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder may be the next addition to Colorado’s list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.  On January 30, the state Senate committee on Veterans and Military Affairs heard arguments for SB 17-17, the Post-Traumatic Stress Bill, before a standing-room-only crowd.

State Senator Ray Scott, chair of the committee, called upon victims, veterans, physicians and advocates to testify on behalf of cannabis use for stress disorders, including PTSD.

Advocacy for cannabis at the national level is more important now than ever before, said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, as he opened NCIA’s Seed to Sale Show on January 31.

NCIA ensures that cannabis-industry professionals have a voice and a seat at the table in Washington D.C., Smith noted as he explained not only how NCIA represents the cannabis industry in D.C., but how the organization plans to protect cannabis at the national level — and how the industry in Colorado can help.

Mowgli Holmes gave the keynote at the Seed to Sale Show in Denver on January 31, and he taught the crowd a thing or two — or six — about cannabis. Holmes is the co-founder and chief scientific officer at Phylos Bioscience, which has created a web of over a thousand cannabis strains. The web links strains that are in the same family and provide growers and consumers with scientific knowledge about the plant that has never been documented in one place before.

Here are those six things we learned from the keynote:

Update: Tomorrow, February 3, a memorial service will be held in Boulder for Laura Kriho, an important and passionate cannabis activist who died earlier this week; see our previous coverage below.

Information about the gathering is included in a lovely and heartfelt remembrance shared by members of Kriho’s family under the auspices of the Cannabis Therapy Institute, the organization Kriho used to educate the public about the medicinal attributes of marijuana and push for greater access to a plant she felt had been unfairly demonized.

Continue to learn more about Kriho and the service details.

Since it founded a medicinal grow in 2009, Colorado Harvest Company has had a commitment to clean cannabis, adding a recreational operation in 2014 and always improving on a well-oiled system. That system has earned Colorado Harvest Company a growing reputation for quality.

As more and more states have legalized marijuana, Colorado Harvest has been hosting many out-of-state visitors who want to observe grow operations. “The world is watching Colorado, and that’s why it’s so important that we do a good job here,” says Colorado Harvest CEO Tim Cullen. “We have people visiting at least every other week or so.”

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett has been named to a working group of DAs from across the country who will advise the administration of President Donald Trump on marijuana policy. Garnett hopes to influence the Justice Department and presumptive attorney general Jeff Sessions, an avowed pot hater, to be thoughtful about cannabis and not make the sort of mistakes he associates with their actions to date regarding immigration, as exemplified by the chaos that followed an executive order enacting a temporary refugee ban and more.

“As a DA, I’ve been very involved with protection of the immigrant community,” Garnett says. “And watching that issue, I see some parallels between how the Trump administration may approach immigration and how they may approach marijuana.”

The Indo Expo brought its fifth cannabis trade show to the Denver Mart January 28 to 29, attracting both industry insiders and members of the public eager to learn about the latest innovations and advances in marijuana. Over the years, the show has doubled the number of booths and attendance has tripled.

The first day of the expo brought together cultivators of both big- and small-scale operations to discuss the newest trends in the cannabis industry; the second day was open to the public. “We wanted to give back to the community,” explains Stephanie Swimmer, Indo Expo operations director.

Coloradans suffering from mental illness have been left behind when it comes to the state’s legalization efforts, according to Teri Robnett, founder and executive director of Cannabis Patients Alliance. That’s why advocates plan to perform 22 push-ups on the steps of the State Capitol on Monday, January 30, as part of an effort to get Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), among other mental illnesses, on the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in Colorado.

Prospects look bright for SB17-017, which would allow medical marijuana use for stress disorders. Groups supporting the bill had a strategy meeting on January 25, at which representatives from the Cannabis Patients Alliance, along with the Strong Alliance and Veterans for Natural Rights, said they are gaining ground.

About a dozen states, as well as D.C. and Guam, have PTSD listed as a qualifying condition for treatment with cannabis — but Colorado doesn’t. Advocates have been hoping to change the minds of officials at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the agency involved in approving new conditions. The department has denied earlier requests, however, so the bill is a backup.

Emmett Reistroffer was one of the authors of Initiative 300 and worked on the campaign to get the social-use ordinance passed last November. Now the event planner and policy consultant for Denver Relief Consulting serves on the city’s Social Use Advisory Committee. We sat down with Reistroffer to chat about social use, the first committee meeting, and what he thinks about how the process is going.

The cannabis industry has been pressuring the City of Denver to expand the hours that dispensaries are allowed to stay open; the current deadline is 7 p.m. (and many close at 6:45).

Until that changes, marijuana enthusiasts will have to look beyond city limits to find late-night bud, as surrounding municipalities have different rules and regulations. In some, like Littleton, dispensaries are not allowed at all. In others, dispensaries are allowed to stay open much later than in Denver. Here are six places where you can buy marijuana past 7 p.m. around the metro area.