Airlines booked 16 percent more flights from St. Louis to Denver since December 1, and number crunchers think marijuana tourism may be behind the boost.
Demand for flights to Denver jumped to 10 percent above the national average this month, peaking at 14 percent during the first week of January, says Patrick Surry, the chief data scientist at the Boston-based travel planning site Hopper.com. The Riverfront Times has the full story.
| Pink-haired ladies. |
One day last October, just after 4:20pm, Candace Delaven Kelly answered a knock on her door to find state police and task force agents from the attorney general’s office “requesting permission” to enter and search her home, located in rural Buffalo Township , PA, where the biggest grass problems usually revolve around whose turn it is to mow it.
Ms. Kelly really isn’t all that different than most 64-year-old ladies. Locks of gray hair pulled back in a simple braid, a gentle smile, a modest mobile home in Pennsylvania, five grandkids, 64 pounds of dank hydro expertly sealed and packaged , and just shy of $400,000 in cash stashed in duffel bags under the bed. Still, she let the officers in that day, and they reported being “overwhelmed” by the powerful aroma of weed that blasted them when they walked through the door.
| Big photos below. |
We recently noted the budding of “free” marijuana deals on Denver Craigslist, with folks frequently offering cannabis in exchange for a donation or as a bonus for the purchase of another item.
But such proposals aren’t the only kind of weed-related deals on the site.
Here’s a memorable example: An advertiser is offering to swap what looks from photos to be a great hippie bus for two-and-a-half pounds of pot. Denver Westword has the full story.
| Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (in the orange cap). |
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon talked about many things in his State of the State speech Tuesday night. He talked about jobs (used the word 20 times), kids (said “child” 16 times), the economy (12 times), and he even gave a shout-out to the LGBT community.
But one thing he never mentioned: marijuana reform.
Why not? The Riverfront Times digs deeper.
| Jared Polis. |
Earlier this week, we posted about President Barack Obama’s latest marijuana comments: He told the New Yorker that pot isn’t more dangerous than alcohol, and considers it to be less risky “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”
With that new take, Boulder, Colorado Democrat Representative Jared Polis has written a letter to the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid inviting them to tour a Colorado dispensary and grow. Read the entire letter over at The Latest Word.
While many states are easing up on marijuana possession penalties, Wisconsin lawmakers feel the need to make their state tougher on pot. The Wisconsin Assembly this week approved a bill that would allow local municipalities to levy heavier penalties against cannabis users.
As it stands now, pot (and synthetic smokable drugs commonly called “synthetic marijuana”) possession of up 25 grams or less is enforceable at the city level. Anything more than that, and the charges have to be brought by the state or county prosecutors. Republicans, however, want to change that.
Despite medical cannabis being legalized in the state, the Illinois Department of Public Health clearly thinks medical marijuana users are still criminals. Proposed rules for the program unveiled yesterday by the department would require all patients to be fingerprinted and undergo a background check before they could use the plant.
Thankfully, these are just draft proposals and there will be plenty of time for public comment on these stupid, onerous restrictions.
Around this time last year, we began hearing reports that cars with Colorado license plates were being profiled by law enforcers in other states looking to make marijuana busts.
But are similar assumptions being made about Coloradans even after they reach their out-of-state destinations?
That’s the claim of one man, who says hotel personnel in Kansas accused him of smoking weed in his room just because of where he lives. Denver Westword has the full story.
| Photos and more below. |
In recent weeks, we’ve posted about several satirical Colorado marijuana sales stories that some are taking seriously, including one that claimed pot overdoses killed 37 people and another about Representative Michele Bachmann supposedly driving stoned that prompted an official denial from Fort Collins.
A piece about folks buying weed with food stamps is a joke, too. But there is now actual legislation intended to ban this nonexistent practice. Denver Westword has more.
Joseph Friedman deals drugs. Oxycontin, valium, morphine, even cocaine are things that he can get his hands on for a price. The one thing he can’t sell, though, is marijuana. Friedman is a pharmacist in Illinois who is helping to lead the charge to change marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance (meaning it’s federally illegal to prescribe or dispense) to a Schedule II substance that he can legally sell over the counter.
Friedman is part of a growing interest by Big Pharma in the plant, including a push by lawmakers in Michigan to allow for “medical grade” cannabis to be sold in pharmacies, and he made his case Tuesday before the Illinois State board of Pharmacy.