The questions surrounding cannabis are so numerous that we created a weekly column to answer them, but even Ask a Stoner can’t satisfy all curiosity. Thanks to Colorado’s cannabis legalization efforts, though, you can now attend cannabis-focused courses that range from 420-friendly seminars to scientific discussions at a state university.

Want to learn how cook with cannabis over the weekend? There’s a class for that. How about a more intense foray into the fundamentals of cultivation? There’s a class for that, too.

I’m not going to waste time complaining about my life — everyone has to eat shit sometimes, and my diet is relatively free from that substance — but the tidal wave of feces lapping on my shores last week broke records. Financial, medical and relationship issues all culminated in one massive dump, and just like that, I was officially over being an adult. I needed an age-cation.

Shopping for a strain to help me escape into a land of Nickelodeon cartoons, comic books and ice cream sandwiches for a weekend, I came upon Sour OG. A product of San Fernando Valley OG Kush (SFV OG) and Sour Diesel, Sour OG has been bypassed by Girl Scout Cookies as everyone’s favorite OG-sativa blend, but the fifty-fifty hybrid’s presence in Denver dispensaries should still be respected.

The Denver Botanic Gardens spans 24 acres, with seventeen gardens showcasing plants that thrive in Colorado’s arid climate — and that’s only counting the main location on York Street. The Denver Botanic Gardens also runs Chatfield Farms, a 700-acre native-plant refuge and working farm in Jefferson County, as well as a conservatory for alpine plants and bristlecone pines on Mount Evans.

Those areas “reflect an ever-widening diversity of plants from all corners of the world,” according to the organization, while also focusing on local flora.

So why no hemp…or even marijuana?

Although cannabis and Colorado are inextricably linked in the minds of many outsiders, most of the state still bans pot businesses, according to new data from the state Marijuana Enforcement Division. Even so, over 550,000 pounds of cannabis were harvested throughout the first half of 2018.

While possession and personal cultivation were legalized throughout Colorado after voters approved Amendment 64 in 2012, the measure also gave towns and counties the right to ban dispensaries, commercial growing operations and other licensed pot businesses within their borders. So far, most of Colorado is still declining the green rush.

The Drug Enforcement Administration appeared to take a large step forward on Thursday, September 27, when it confirmed that it would reclassify Epidiolex as a Schedule V substance. The move follows Food and Drug Administration approval and classifies the marijuana-derived cannabidiol (CBD) medication under the DEA’s lowest restriction for drugs, so physicians and pharmacies can now prescribe and dispense it in all fifty states under federal law.

Despite the headlining news, the reaction in Colorado was a mixed bag, ranging from ho-hum to angry disappointment.

No matter the plant’s legal status, Colorado has never been short of growers of cannabis — so out-of-staters looking to get into the business need to know what they’re doing. And Mike Meyer (without the “s,” so don’t confuse him with Austin Powers or the Halloween slasher) definitely did. He got his start in California, growing cannabis in his attic as a hobby while studying horticulture in college.

In 2007 he jumped into California’s medical marijuana industry, where he spent ten years learning about strain breeding and perfecting his plants. After moving to Denver in 2017, Meyer found himself heading the cultivation department of Lucy Sky Cannabis Boutique, which is about to have four dispensaries open under its umbrella. To learn more about the craft of growing cannabis both commercially and personally, we chatted with Meyer about his budding trade.

Moffat was a major cattle shipping center along the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in the early 1900s, but over the past century the population of this town in southern Colorado dwindled, until it now holds barely 100 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

“I think they were counting the dogs and cats when they did that,” says former Moffat mayor Brian Morgan. “Now we need to figure out how to add more housing, because Moffat doesn’t have a lot.”

And why does Moffat need more housing? The small, sleepy town in Saguche County is expecting to welcome new faces now that its town board has approved plans for Area 420, a unique business compound that could bring nine different pot companies to Moffat — which will all share space.

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