Colorado marijuana businesses have sold more than $6 billion worth of weed and related products since a voter-approved measure allowing adults over the age of 21 to consume recreational pot took effect in the state on Jan. 1, 2014. The milestone figure was highlighted Tuesday in a news release from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, […]
Colorado
“Where’s all that marijuana money?” Colorado’s pot dollars help schools, but maybe not as much as you think
Amendment 64’s promise to fix schools is kept, but in measured amounts A big part of the 2012 pitch to convince Colorado voters they should legalize recreational marijuana was that the tax money would fix their local schools. Five years after the first sale occurred on Jan. 1, 2014, that tax money has translated into […]
Feds, local police launch raids on up to 50 black-market marijuana grow houses in Denver area
Scores of agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency fanned out early Thursday morning in a coordinated raid of up to 50 suspected black-market marijuana grow houses in the Denver metro area, authorities say. Dozens of search warrants were served on homeowners and residents across the metro area, said Randy Ladd, spokesman for the DEA’s Denver […]
Meet America’s first pot governor, Colorado’s Jared Polis
The governor-elect takes office at a significant moment in Colorado for the cannabis industry. Jared Polis takes office Tuesday as Colorado’s new chief executive — and America’s first pot governor. The Democrat’s long-standing support for legal marijuana, his embrace of the industry as a core part of his campaign agenda and his unique strategy to […]
Denver officials want to clear some 10,000 low-level marijuana convictions, following in Boulder County’s footsteps
Denver officials are planning to clear thousands of marijuana convictions prosecuted before its use became legal in the state. Colorado was among the first states to broadly allow the use and sale of marijuana by adults, but cities elsewhere have led the way on automatic expungement of past misdemeanor marijuana convictions. A spokeswoman for Mayor […]
Amendment X: Why an ‘industrial hemp’ question on Colorado’s ballot is important to a fledgling agricultural industry
Imagine if Colorado, a pioneer in the nation for legalized marijuana, ended up locked out of a competitive advantage if the federal government relaxes its own rules for growing hemp. You can almost hear Alanis Morissette adding a verse to her famous song. But that could happen, say those in Colorado’s hemp industry who are counting […]
Colorado cracks a billion in annual marijuana sales in record time, generating $200M in tax revenue
Marijuana sales in Colorado exceeded $1 billion as of August of this year, with tax revenue from those sales coming in at $200 million, according to a report from the Colorado Department of Revenue and its Marijuana Enforcement Division. It’s the earliest point in any of the four years Colorado has had legal recreational marijuana that […]
Canadian legalization creates opportunities for Colorado marijuana businesses
Nationwide recreational marijuana legalization makes Canada a fertile landscape for ganjaprenuers. While some Colorado companies are already cashing in on opportunities north of the border, the effect on the local cannabis landscape is expected to be mostly invisible to consumers, industry advocates say. People began lining up in the wee hours of Newfoundland time Wednesday morning to make […]
Colorado Loosens Hemp Testing Restrictions
A trio of state health and regulatory agencies have come to an agreement on how to test industrial hemp products in Colorado. In a joint bulletin issued Friday, September 21, the Colorado departments of Public Health and Environment, Agriculture and Revenue announced looser restrictions for licensed marijuana testing labs that wish to test industrial hemp and hemp-derived CBD products. Previously, […]
Mandatory Testing Costly For Colorado Marijuana Growers
New mandatory marijuana pesticide testing in Colorado is putting a financial squeeze on local cultivators to the tune of thousands of dollars in increased costs. The added expense is the latest financial blow to hit the state’s cultivators, which are already struggling with falling wholesale prices and a glut of product. Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division […]
Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows
Since Colorado voters legalized pot in 2012, prohibition supporters have warned that recreational marijuana will lead to a scourge of “drugged drivers” on the state’s roads. They often point out that when the state legalized medical marijuana in 2001, there was a surge in drivers found to have smoked pot. They also point to studies showing that […]
Anti-Pot Groups Twisted Facts to Exaggerate Stoned Driving Problem
For years, anti-marijuana groups have spun data in an attempt to prove that the sky is falling as a result of progressive cannabis laws in Colorado. The latest example involves a vast exaggeration about the level of stoned driving in the state, complete with an assist from the Denver Post. Additional characters in the latest […]
Denver’s first-of-its-kind social marijuana use program for businesses is mostly a bust. Can it be fixed?
When it comes to navigating the maze of restrictions that came with Denver’s voter-passed law allowing marijuana use in licensed businesses, The Coffee Joint cracked the code. The first — and so far only — licensee under the 2016 ordinance is a combination coffee shop and bring-your-own-cannabis vape bar that’s within spitting distance of Interstate 25, south […]
Denver marijuana sales reach record high of $587 million, sales across state continue to rise
Denver dispensaries sold more than $587 million in marijuana in 2017 even as sales in shops in other parts of the state continue to grow. Retail sales totaled $377 million in Denver, according to the city’s annual report on the marijuana industry released Thursday. The city’s revenue from all marijuana sales in 2017 grew to $44 million, a 20 […]
Oregon Has Too Much Marijuana On Hand, While Colorado’s Pot Supply Is Just Right
Two of the first states to broadly legalize marijuana took different approaches to regulation that left Oregon with a vast oversupply and Colorado with a well-balanced market. But in both states prices for bud have plummeted. A new Oregon report by law enforcement found nearly 70 percent of the legal recreational marijuana grown goes unsold, while an […]
State of Colorado “mandatory pesticide testing” does little to address exposure to toxic chemicals in cannabis products
PRESS RELEASE Denver—August 1, 2018—Today the State of Colorado implemented “mandatory pesticide testing” for the first time. Many consumers may be surprised to learn that a highly taxed industry functioning within significant regulations in licensing, permitting and beyond, has little oversight on the pesticides used on plants that are ultimately consumed by humans. While Colorado […]
Sweet Leaf case puts Colorado’s marijuana enforcement system to the test
By all appearances, Sweet Leaf Marijuana Centers was a cannabis success story. In early December, Sweet Leaf had grown to 300 employees, brought in upward of $5 million in sales monthly, and expanded across Colorado’s Front Range with an eye on markets such as Nevada and Massachusetts. The burgeoning cannabis chain was blowing away most […]
Colorado Names New Director Of Marijuana Coordination
Colorado has a new marijuana czar, and she’s no stranger to pot policy. Governor John Hickenlooper announced today, July 5, that Dominique Mendiola is now the state’s director of marijuana coordination. Mendiola had served as the deputy director of the Marijuana Enforcement Division since 2014, the same year recreational pot businesses opened in Colorado. Under that […]
