A new analysis finds that while marijuana legalization has led to higher rates of cannabis consumption in Colorado and other states with similar laws, there’s no evidence that it’s fueling abuse of more addictive drugs, including heroin and cocaine.

That’s the conclusion of a just-issued report from LiveStories, which specializes in the analysis of civic data. LiveStories founder Adnan Mahmud summarizes the results like so: “We haven’t found any strong correlation that suggests increased marijuana use leads to increases in other substance abuse.”

An amendment attached to a federal finance bill that would have provided the legal marijuana industry with banking protections was stifled on Thursday, June 21, by a U.S. Senate committee. The measure, introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, would have shielded financial institutions and banks that open accounts for state-legal pot businesses from federal prosecution.

We haven’t hidden our admiration for L’Eagle’s operation in the past, awarding it with numerous Best of Denver awards for its work in the grow. The dispensary provides some of the stankiest buds in town while  advocating for clean growing practices and fighting against unsafe pesticide use. And owners Amy Andrle and her husband, John, have put their words into action, becoming the first dispensary in Denver to become Certifiably Green for its sustainable business practices.

Westword caught up with Amy Andrle in the following email interview to see what one of the Mile High’s most esteemed dispensaries has been up to and what the pot power couple has planned for the future.

With plenty of public parks to play in, classic amusement parks to visit, a decent baseball team to watch and great views of the Rocky Mountains, there’s no shortage of summer activities to satisfy your Americana cravings. And the perfect treat to enjoy alongside almost all of those activities is ice cream. Unfortunately for anyone looking for wholesome refreshments after 10 p.m., options are somewhat limited.

So instead of going to the grocery store for a hard-frozen pint on a hot Saturday night, my girlfriend and I opted to spend our money on a big bag of weed, hoping that would make us forget about the two inches of frost layering the vintage popsicles in my freezer. Lucky for us, we came across a strain called Sunset Sherbet, so we didn’t need to eat any Obama-era ice pops.

Clinical trials that study medical marijuana are few and far between because of the plant’s federally illegal status. Colorado has been the rare exception to that rule, thanks to the passage of Amendment 64, and now the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment hopes to expand on the state’s nine currently funded MMJ studies by offering nearly $3 million more in grants for qualified research efforts.

The big news about teens and marijuana in Colorado is that there isn’t big news. Just-issued federal government statistics show that the rate of cannabis use among high school students in the state is slightly less than the national average and below the percentage of those who smoked pot before Colorado voters approved legal consumption for adults more than five years ago.

In the past, anti-weed groups that regularly call for the clock to be turned back in order to protect children have tried to spin positive or neutral numbers in a negative direction, and Marijuana Policy Project spokesperson Mason Tvert, among the main proponents of Amendment 64, the 2012 measure that legalized limited recreational sales for those 21 and over, expects much the same this time around.

Since 2011, Dr. Rav Ivker has seen nearly 8,000 medical marijuana patients at his holistic medicine practice in Boulder. Over that same period, Ivker has been in steady contact with David Threlfall, owner of Denver dispensary Trill Evolutions and Boulder’s Trill Alternatives, meeting regularly to exchange information gathered from MMJ patient feedback.

In September 2017, Ivker published a book called Cannabis for Chronic Pain, which detailed MMJ prescriptions for the treatment of various pain conditions. In addition to feedback from his own patients, Ivker credits Threlfall’s patient data from his Trill dispensaries for aiding in his medical cannabis education. “They don’t teach this stuff in medical school,” Ivker explains.

Trail Blazers is a series of portraits by photographer Maria Levitov spotlighting cannabis consumers from all walks of life.

Chase Livingston moved to Denver from Florida and was quick to notice the difference in cannabis laws. A professional sound engineer, Livingston uses cannabis for recreational purposes and an occasional extra push to fall asleep, but isn’t ignorant of its medical benefits.

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