While the Colorado Legislature considers several bills relating to marijuana, plans are heating up for events around the annual 4/20 rally, which will take place right down the hill from the State Capitol, in Civic Center Park. Keep reading for a rundown of activities before then, in chronological order.
Since 2014, a group of fitness enthusiasts have come together to incorporate marijuana into their workouts, with a goal of getting fit for 4/20. This year, Diiullo is in charge of the group’s Facebook account and is posting daily fitness inspiration on her Instagram, @highly.fit.
In honor of the first day of the Fit for 420 challenge, here are our favorite workout-inspired weed-porn Instagrams.
Much of Denver’s fourth Social Consumption Advisory Committee meeting on March 11 was spent discussing the proposal to allow marijuana clubs, which is currently before the Colorado Legislature.
SB 17-184, the Private Marijuana Clubs Open and Public Use bill, passed a Senate committee last week in a bipartisan five-to-two vote and is on its way to the Senate floor. Denver’s advisory committee, which was set up after the passage of I-300, wants to ensure that as the city implements the voter-approved social consumption initiative, it does not interfere with the language in the state’s bill.
After hours of testimony on Wednesday, March 8, a Colorado House committee approved Senate Bill 17-17, which would make people suffering from PTSD and other stress disorders eligible for medical marijuana, in an 8-1 vote. It now moves on to a full vote of the House.
“We’re in the final stretch, and the momentum has really kicked in,” says Cindy Sovine-Miller, a lobbyist working with the Hoban Law Group to help shepherd the proposal through the Colorado Legislature. “There were two and a half hours of testimony of people who were opposed to this bill — testimony from very credible people. The testimony from the people who are actually impacted by this really won the day.”
Dear Stoner: I’ve had retail dispensaries scan my ID and put my info in their computers or hold my ID until I speak to a budtender. One said that they had to confirm that my ID was up to date, but the majority of retail dispensaries give my ID a quick look and give it back. Seems shady.
Christie
Dear Christie: State law only requires visual inspection at dispensaries, the way a bouncer at a bar does it — but municipalities can come up with their own policies. In answer to a similar question in 2015, a spokeswoman for the City of Aurora said it forced dispensaries to scan IDs before entry because computers are “capable of quickly and reliably confirming the validity of an identification.” That requirement is uncommon, however, and doesn’t exist in Denver — though that doesn’t stop Denver pot shops from scanning IDs or holding them until you’re at the counter. The most common explanations we’ve heard from dispensaries is that they hold on to IDs to verify that they’re real and to ensure that no one goes over their daily ounce limit — but I’ve also heard of dispensaries creating customer profiles from your information. It’s a dispensary’s right to do either; it’s also your right to go somewhere else.
The Colorado Legislature is loaded up with marijuana measures this week, including proposals to establish pot clubs and to add PTSD to the list of patient ailments that can be treated with medical marijuana. And on March 8, the Senate Business, Labor and Technology committee approved Senator Tim Neville‘s bill to allow medical marijuana delivery systems for patients and businesses.
Senate Bill 17-192 calls for a state licensing authority to create an endorsement for existing medical marijuana licenses, permitting them to make deliveries to patients in need in areas where medical marijuana is currently sold.
Most male champions in thoroughbred horse racing end up studding after they retire, meaning their owners collect six figures while they impregnate mares in one of the most highly esteemed prostitution rings in sports. American Pharaoh, the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, charges $200,000 a pop. But Tapit, a lesser-known horse with fewer trophies, commands $300,000. Why? Because Tapit’s children win more races.
Tapit and Girl Scout Cookies have a lot in common: A very popular strain on its own, Girl Scout Coookies is becoming just as beloved for its offspring as it is for itself — if not more. GSC’s kids include Gelato, Platinum GSC, Sherbet and Thin Mints, a couple of which are personal favorites. But Exotic Genetix out of Washington state might’ve created the strongest colt of all with its thunderous Cookies and Cream. Bred from a GSC phenotype and Starfighter, a rare Alien hybrid, Cookies and Cream can test above 32 percent THC — but it’s proven to have more than just brawn. Its supreme potency, looks, smell, flavor and high make it a true five-tool player, something Nolan Arenado would smoke if he were allowed to — but not before batting practice. This sugary treat isn’t going to help your coordination.
In a 34 to 1 vote, the Colorado Senate passed the Post-Traumatic Stress Bill; today, March 8, it’s scheduled for a public hearing before the House State Affairs Committee.
Adam Foster, lead attorney on the case, says it’s time for Colorado to join the 21 states with medicinal cannabis laws that have approved PTSD as a qualifying condition.
“Colorado has been the leader in so many different regards with regard to the cannabis plant, but we are very much behind the curve as far as using medical cannabis to treat PTSD,” he says. “Every other state that has considered the issue has approved medical cannabis for the treatment of PTSD, and Colorado is really an outlier in that regard.”
For the first time in recent years, all three Colorado chapters of NORML came together to lobby for cannabis on the state level. Denver NORML, Southern Colorado NORML and Colorado NORML joined forces on Tuesday, March 7, to educate state lawmakers on some key cannabis measures, including SB17-184, the Private Marijuana Clubs Open and Public Use bill.
“It was a first,” says Jordan Person, executive director of Denver NORML, who also notes that for the first time, women are running each of the three chapters.
Marijuana is now legal in more than half the country, but related areas of the law are taking a while to catch up. Women are still being punished for exposing their babies to marijuana; under child-abuse and child-neglect statutes, women can be arrested for child endangerment or have their babies taken away.
Even so, little is known about whether an infant can be harmed if an expectant mother uses marijuana during pregnancy or after birth. Dr. Thomas Hale is working to change that.