Cannabis and comic-book culture collided at the third annual Chromic Con. On Saturday, November 19, the Speakeasy Vape Lounge and Cannabis Club in Colorado Springs hosted the original marijuana-friendly comic-book convention. People came dressed as their favorite fantasy characters, studied comic books and graphic novels, and socialized while smoking their favorite herb. Here are five of our favorite things about Chromic Con:
Browsing: News
Last week, as we reported, the Denver social-marijuana-consumption measure Initiated Ordinance 300 officially passed. But the initiative’s vision of patrons being able to use cannabis in bars or restaurants that serve alcohol is very much in doubt.
Why? The Colorado Department of Revenue has adopted a proposal recommended by the state’s Liquor Enforcement Division to prohibit marijuana consumption anywhere that’s licensed to serve alcohol.
Marijuana enthusiasts could have plenty to worry about during a Donald Trump presidency. Aside from being a racist, Trump’s attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, has made disparaging remarks about marijuana, even insisting that he thought the KKK “were okay until I found out they smoked pot.” In other words, the country’s top attorney thinks marijuana is more evil than the KKK. And before you celebrate Denver’s recent decision to expand the places in which people can toke, consider that it might be a hard initiative to implement. Keep reading for more on Sessions, the Yes on 300 Campaign, and how some marijuana advocates are fighting back against a potentially threatening administration.
Hold on to your bongs, ladies and gentlemen; the next four years will be quite the trip. Here are seven stories that show why:
President-elect Donald Trump has announced his pick for attorney general, and the marijuana industry is less than enthused. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama has made multiple public statements voicing his disapproval of cannabis.
Industry leaders are hoping Trump’s administration respects states’ rights and the electorate’s decision to legalize medical and recreational marijuana in over half of the states.
Last week, we posted about a petition launched by the Marijuana Majority calling on president-elect Donald Trump to respect cannabis laws in states such as Colorado, which has legalized limited pot sales for recreational purposes.
In an interview with Westword, Marijuana Majority chairman and founder Tom Angell also expressed concern about the marijuana views of the person whom Trump would choose to fill the position of attorney general in his administration. Among the names floated at the time were New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who’d vowed to crack down on Colorado’s marijuana system during his own failed run for the presidency, and onetime New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, another well-known weed hater.
Now that the count is finally completed and Denver voters have approved the social use of marijuana, here’s the question everyone’s asking: What happens next?
The ordinance does not include a timeline that requires the city to start licensing businesses right away. Instead, Denver has a sixty-day window to create the application that a business will use to apply for a social-use permit, according to Dan Rowland, citywide communications advisor for the City and County of Denver. City officials will start drafting that application on Tuesday, November 22.
A little known aspect of busts.
Here’s your weekly dose of cannabis news from the newsletter WeedWeek.
An investigation in Reason finds “ widespread, unchecked violence against pets during drug raids.” Two Detroit officers it found have killed more than 100 dogs each.
The owner of Med-West, a San Diego extraction company that was raided by local authorities in January is seeking a return of his frozen assets. $324,000 cash was seized during the raid. No criminal charges have been filed.
Police departments are becoming more tolerant of applicants’ past pot smoking.
Las Vegas police said they would still pursue possession arrests, though the district attorney said they wouldn’t be prosecuted.
With Trump’s election, federal inmates incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses fear their window to win clemency is closing. “Some of these people are bad dudes,” Trump said at an August rally “These are people out walking the streets. Sleep tight, folks.”
CBS tells the story of Harry Anslinger, a leading figure in passing the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which made it illegal.
The New Yorker sent Adrian Chen to the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Duterte is waging a brutal drug war. The article is subtly titled “ When a Populist Demagogue Takes Over.”
In California, police are concerned about home grows.
Time Magazine calls hmbldt vape pens one of the 25 best inventions of 2016.
Ozy discovers “ happy pizza” in Cambodia. A Barcelona cannabis club was closed by authorities. There’s a cannabis/comic book convention today in Colorado Springs.
Vice learns how to make “ the most potent weed oil.”
The Washington Post recommends four books to understand the new weed reality. They include Marijuana: A Short History, by John Hudak, Jesse Ventura’s Marijuana Manifesto, Sacred Bliss: A Spiritual History of Cannabis by Mark S. Ferrara and Cooking with Cannabis by Laurie Goldrich.
The New Yorker published a pot-industry cartoon. It isn’t especially funny.
On the surface, Arizona’s rejection of Proposition 205, the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, seemed like a clear victory for the various anti-legalization organizations throughout the state. However, a look at the opposition and the contents of the proposition itself show a more complex political situation.
Arizona passed Prop 200 and legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 — before Colorado did. Even so, Arizona was the only state out of nine with marijuana questions on the ballot to reject a marijuana measure this round. Over one million voters, constituting 52 percent of the result, voted against Prop 205. This despite the fact that Arizona has over 130 medical dispensaries in operation and Prop 205 was polling at 50 percent in October. So what happened?
Carol A. Morrison and May Alice Wells, known as Cush and Cat, respectively, were enjoying the social use of cannabis before social use was cool. The pair operates one of the most unusual venues on Colorado’s cannabis scene: Sacred Smoke Sanctuary, located at 3704 Downing Street.
After moving from New York to Colorado in 2014, they started renovating the 4,000-square-foot space. Since then, it’s been part church, part art studio, part rehearsal space, part theater, part lounge and part residence, and the couple has welcomed all cannabis-loving people into their world. Since the building is a private residence and their landlord has okayed cannabis use, they’ve been able to host events with cannabis on the property since long before Denver voters approved 300, the social-use ordinance — and they can continue to do so.
Yesterday, proponents of Initiated Ordinance 300 declared victory for the measure, which will create a pilot program to allow adults to consume cannabis in permitted private establishments such as bars and restaurants.
But Rachel O’Bryan, who served as campaign manager for Protect Denver’s Atmosphere, the main organization opposing 300, is much less enthusiastic about the proposal’s belated win, which was finally announced a full week after election day. Indeed, she predicts a slew of problems when it comes to implementing the ordinance.