It’s no secret that Colorado loves its craft beer. For residents of the Mile High, spending a full day testing breweries is a common pastime, with hard-core fans regularly traveling as far as Greeley or Divide for popular beers from trendy breweries like Paradox or WeldWerks. The dedication and pompous attitude of beer snobs can be annoying sometimes, but their willingness to travel and spend big money on a finite indulgence is admirable.
Buying and trying cannabis around the state isn’t as social as drinking beer, and it may never be as fun a field trip thanks to social-consumption laws, but it’s high time that the dispensary scenes outside of Denver got some love. Where are the Greeleys and Divides for pot geeks? We’re here to help you plan a summer road trip: Here are five towns that helped make Colorado the poster child of pot.
Mason Tvert, a key figure in the passage of Amendment 64, the 2012 measure that legalized limited recreational marijuana sales, and the Denver pot-legalization regulation that preceded it, is leaving his post as communications director for the national Marijuana Policy Project in favor of a similar position at VS Strategies, a Denver-based consulting firm that’s become a national powerhouse.
Landrace strains will always be worth trying, even as hybrid genetics move them further and further away from the originals. Afghani and Durban Poison are popular landraces that are usually easy to find around town, and I’ve come across Maui Wowie and Hindu Kush from time to time, but I’ve had little success finding South American favorites like Acapulco Gold, which helped birth so many of the strains we love today. Colombian Gold, a cousin to the famed Mexican sativas, doesn’t carry quite the rep, but I was still ecstatic to see it at a local pot shop.
Dear Stoner: I’m currently sitting here with a gram of wax and nothing to smoke it out of. I have a regular bong, but not extra cash for a dab attachment. What the hell am I supposed to do?
Cursed to sober
In March, L.A. voters overwhelmingly approved Measure M, giving City Council permission to regulate the marijuana industry in the world’s biggest market. But industry leaders worry that the council’s proposed rules, released earlier this month, could force cannabis companies to relocate to more amenable cities, taking their jobs and tax dollars with them.
The proposed rules are up for a 60-day public comment period.
Marijuana industry insiders’ main complaint is that while Measure M empowered city council to regulate the industry, the proposed rules would not give cannabis businesses full legal standing. Instead of licenses or permits, the draft regulations offer “certificates of compliance.”
Marijuana reform is headed for Texas, but it probably won’t get here anytime soon.
During the 85th Texas legislative session, which ended in May, two cannabis reform bills made it further than pretty much any similar efforts have before. Although both laws had an apparent majority in the Texas House of Representatives, the session ended before they could be voted on.
One bill aimed to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. The other tried to create a real medical marijuana program. While the bills’ legislative journey says a lot about how much politicians in Texas have warmed to marijuana, it will probably be at least two or three more years before the state sees any big changes to its pot laws.
On July 1, Nevada became the fourth state with open recreational marijuana dispensaries, following in the footsteps of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. As newly liberated cannabis consumers flock to dispensaries for some of Nevada’s first legal herb, media reports are already showing the state is experiencing growing pains that Colorado’s cannabis industry can relate to.
Dear Stoner: It feels really good to do yoga after I smoke sometimes. Are there any weed-friendly yoga studios in Denver?
Emmy Pittsnoggle
This year marks a decade since the still-unsolved murder of Denver 420 Rally founder and groundbreaking Colorado marijuana activist Ken Gorman. But he hasn’t been forgotten. Indeed, current rally organizers meeting to talk about appealing the City of Denver’s three-year ban of the event brought along Gorman’s ashes, treating them like the equivalent of holy relics. And the mere mention of Gorman triggered both deep emotion over his loss and anger that his killer or killers have yet to be held responsible for their actions.
A Colorado credit union that’s been stymied in its attempts to serve marijuana businesses was given a boost on June 27 when a federal appeals court vacated a previous ruling that had banned the credit union from obtaining an account with the Federal Reserve Bank.