Chauncey Billups, a Denver native, is the greatest basketball player ever from Colorado — a star for the CU Buffs and the Denver Nuggets, one of several NBA teams for which he played in a long and distinguished career (including the Detroit Pistons, with whom he won a 2004 championship and a finals MVP).
And now, he’s joined the chorus of former athletes supporting the use of medical marijuana in pro sports.
On top of that, Billups not only confirmed that some of his former teammates smoked marijuana before games, but that he thought many played better after doing so.
On December 14, the Drug Enforcement Administration added a new code for marijuana extracts and made it clear that such extracts, including CBD oil, are illegal.
Although this does not represent a change in federal law, many CBD producers have operated under the assumption that cannabis-based products with less than the 0.3 THC percentage that’s allowed in hemp would be legal. But that’s not the case, according to this DEA announcement.
Andrew Freedman spends his days neck-deep in cannabis. As the director of the Governor’s Office of Marijuana Coordination for Colorado, he knows the ins and outs of just about everything about the drug and how it relates to the state. We just sat down with him to discuss, among other things, Denver’s social-use initiative and how the state will be involved in implementation, how states that legalized marijuana in November are building on Colorado’s model, and where he thinks Colorado businesses might expand next.
Today you’ll have a chance to ask Freedman your own questions during our Facebook Live interview with him at 2 p.m. But first, our own Q&A:
Charles “Eddy” Lepp, “a defiant 64-year-old Vietnam vet and ordained Rastafarian minister” was released after serving eight years in federal prison for growing.
Two pieces in The Guardian examine the human toll of Mexico’s decade-old, U.S. supported drug war
A New York Times photojournalist documented dozens of homicide victims of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. The Duterte administration defended its record to Reuters.
Big deal political thinker Ian Bremmer tweeted that Duterte wants to advise Trump on drug policy.
The activist New Jersey Weedman, who faces cannabis charges, compared himself to a “ prisoner at Guantanamo.”
Leafly tells the stories of Sam Caldwell and Moses Baca, “ drug war prisoners 1 & 2,” in 1937. Both were apprehended in Denver. It also cites the work of a “48-year old drug felon and autodidactic cannabis historian who goes by the pen name “Uncle Mike,” maintains a site at UncleMikesResearch.com.
Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors, said he tried MED for his back pain. It didn’t help him but he took a strong stand in favor of it for athletes:
“If you’re an NFL player, in particular, and you got lot of pain, I don’t think there’s any question that pot is better for your body than Vicodin,” Kerr, 51, said. “And yet, athletes everywhere are prescribed Vicodin like it’s Vitamin C, like it’s no big deal. And there’s like this perception in our country that over-the-counter drugs are fine but pot is bad. Now, I think that’s changing.”
The comment got attention and he later added to his remarks. Kerr said the NBA should explore MED for pain relief. New York Knicks president and celebrated coach Phil Jackson said he’d also used MED for pain adding, “I don’t think we have been able to stop it in the NBA. I think it still goes on and is still a part of the culture in the NBA. I think it is something that we either have to accommodate or figure out another way to deal with it.”
Forbes has more on the science of athletes and MED.
Vice asked budtenders about their worst customers. They’re not fond of weed snobs and scary types. The Cannabist serves up 10 budtender commandments, including “Thou Shalt Not Be Too High.”
The Pantone Color Institute, picked Greenery as the color of 2017.
The AP visits Malana, India, a Himalayan village that depends on cannabis. Uruguay will host a cannabis museum.
A bestseller in Germany and the U.K. says the Nazis ingested huge amounts of meth, and that Hitler was an opiate addict. “Blitzed,” will be published here in April.
Cannabinoid hypermesis syndrome (CHS) was first reported in Australia in 2004, and it’s in the news again after a Missoulian article came out about the disease this month.
CHS causes recurring nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Symptoms have reportedly improved after patients take a hot shower or bath or stop using cannabis.
They opposed REC sales in Arizona.
Here’s your daily dose of pot news from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Several former executives of Insys Therapeutics, which sells the powerful opiate fentanyl, were arrested accused of “ bribing doctors, defrauding insurance companies, and fueling America’s opioid addiction crisis.” Insys contributed to successfully defeat Arizona’s November REC vote.
GW Pharmaceuticals reported some “pretty grim” quarterly numbers, but it could benefit from its anti-epilepsy experimental drug Epidolex which is in late stage clinical trials.
Bloomberg suggests there’s a Canadian pot-stock bubble.
Legalization in more states could depress California’s export market. And in another interesting piece by Madison Margolin, California’s “extract artisans” now have some legal protections from meth-lab laws.
Vice dives into regulatory tech which it calls the “ cannabis surveillance state.”
Home grow system Leaf raised $2M.
Celebrity-branded weed costs about 24% more than unbranded. Forbes asks if the trend has gone too far.
Commercial landlords in northern California prepare for legalization.
Quartz profiles marketing company Octavia Wellness which throws pot parties for seniors. The art world is joining efforts to re-brand cannabis.
The Denver Post’s Cannabist won most influential media source at the cannabis business awards.
A new study in Pharmacological Research, by Czech and Italian researchers, found that pot is an aphrodisiac. Read the study here.
New York state wants patients to be able to access MED in hospitals. A study found that cannabis users have lower in-hospital mortality rates.
In an effort to reduce opioid use, Oregon wants opioid patients monitored for marijuana use. The health agency view on marijuana vis a vis opioid use is unclear.
The world’s first clinical trial to test MED for chemotherapy patients is beginning in Australia.
A device developed by Israeli start-up distributes “ nano-droplets” of CBD as a nutraceutical to relieve inflammation and pain is on sale in the U.S. KKTV looked at the cannabis research happening at Colorado State-Pueblo.
The U.S. is lagging Israel and other countries in cannabis research.
The Washington [state]CannaBusiness Association is starting a fund to support MED access for the needy.
A judge ruled last week to reopen Montana’s medical marijuana dispensaries.
In November, voters struck down the Montana Marijuana Act, passed in 2011, renaming it the Montana Medical Marijuana Act. The renaming brought certain changes, one of which forced a three-patient limit on providers — a decision that closed medical dispensaries across the state, leaving thousands of registered medical patients without providers.
Many companies have holiday-themed edibles that we wait for all year; others have items that we especially enjoy during the holiday season. Here are our ten favorite Colorado edibles, to enjoy when there’s snow on the ground and a chill in the air.
1. Bhang Cherries and Cream Chocolate Bar
Bhang’s Cherries and Cream Chocolate Bar won the 2015 World Cannabis Cup for Edibles. Bhang specializes in edibles made with fairly traded Venezuelan criollo cacao; Cherries and Cream combines gourmet cherries with the company’s award-winning milk chocolate bar and contains 180 mg of THC. Interesting fact: Bhang is a Hindi word describing an edible form of cannabis that has been used in India since 2000 BCE.
President Elect Donald Trump selected Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has repeatedly sued the agency to block anti-pollution laws. While this might be seen as support for states’ rights — and by extension the marijuana industry — Mark Joseph Stern at Slate calls Pruitt “ one of the phoniest federalists in the GOP.”
In particular, Pruitt joined Nebraska in suing Colorado over the state’s REC industry. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, retired Marine General John F. Kelly, opposes legalization saying that it increases health care costs and crime, and that the state experiments with it open the U.S. to accusations of hypocrisy from Latin American nations. Kelly is open to the plant having medical benefits.
It also emerged that Jim O’Neill, a Silicon Valley investor who Marijuana.com describes as a “ Marijuana legalization activist,” could be tapped to lead the Food and Drug Administration. O’Neill is neither a doctor or scientist, typical credentials for the position. For more see here.
Marijuana entrepreneurs want Trump to see them as “ job creators,” Forbes reports.
The New York Observer, which is owned by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, called for rescheduling.
In an effort to protect marijuana laws under the Trump administration, Colorado is cracking down on home growers. The state is poised to surpass 3,000 licensed businesses next year.
What attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) means for state-legal pot business remains the big green question. In an in-depth piece, Politico says Sessions could easily “ ignore the will of millions of pro-pot voters” and crack down. Time lists seven reasons Trump is unlikely to go after the industry.
The Sessions hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 10 and 11.
Pro-cannabis group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is petitioning the Justice Department to correct what ASA says is incorrect or misleading information about cannabis on the DEA web site. ASA is represented pro-bono by the major San Francisco law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Though he’s promised to legalize next year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he still wants police to prosecute dispensaries. His pro-pot supporters feel “cheated.”
Canadian producer Cronos Group will work with First Nations groups in Canada to help them join the cannabis economy.
An upcoming March ballot measure for regulating the industry in Los Angeles raises many questions.
A Democratic state Senator in Texas introduced a “longshot” MED bill. Virginia Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R), asked for a study of how the state’s cannabis laws might be changed.Tennessee could also be in play.
Oregon took emergency steps to lower the testing burden on growers, but the industry is skeptical.
REC opponents in Maine were accused of not providing enough volunteers for a recount of the recent vote. A judge ruled that following the recent vote, MED dispensaries in Montana can reopen immediately.
Maryland named 102 pre-approved dispensary license winners. In New York, licensees are worried about competition in the relatively small market.
Guam is implementing a MED program. Dusseldorf, Germany is on the path to legalization.
What will President-elect Donald Trump’s administration do about marijuana? In a recent interview, Erik Altieri, executive director of NORML — the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws — sees reason for optimism following votes in favor of recreational and medical marijuana in numerous states across the country during last month’s election. And he thinks additional progress can be made even with Trump in the White House and pot-hating Jeff Sessions serving as attorney general, the nation’s top law-enforcement official. But some readers are still concerned. Says Terri: