(Hyoung Chang, Denver Post file)

Cannabist Show: He promotes organic weed; He just won four Cannabis Cups

Our guests this week on The Cannabist Show: Organic Cannabis Association co-founder John-Paul Maxfield and Champion Cannabis owner Corey Buffkin.

Top marijuana news: Let’s start with what one Washington D.C. weed dealer called “the dealer protection act of 2015.” The basics: People who want marijuana in D.C. either get a medical card, or they grow it at home, or they buy from the black market. And now that citizens there can legally possess marijuana, more people are interested in it — and now many of those people are going to the black market to get their weed, because it’s the easiest and most convenient route. It’s not an ideal situation, and of course federal politicians (who didn’t want legal D.C. pot in the first place) are blaming the district politicians, and vice versa. Some have even taken to calling D.C.’s black market the “Harris market,” named after U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the Maryland Republican who led Congress’ charge to thwart legalization in D.C. Yeah, it’s a mess.

In other marijuana news, the ever-expanding topic of the science of cannabis had a big week. Two major American magazines featured substantial cover stories on the science of weed. On National Geographic’s cover is a story: “Weed: The New Science of Marijuana.” And on Time magazine’s cover: “The Highly Divisive, Curiously Underfunded and Strangely Promising World of Pot Science.” That the two magazines, with nearly 210 years of publication shared between them, are coincidentally running these stories simultaneously says something about the ever-shifting national conversation surrounding cannabis. We spoke with Bruce Barcott this week, who co-wrote the Time cover story, and he told me this: “When American institutions as stolid as Time and National Geographic run cannabis on their covers, without the words ‘crackdown,’ or ‘out of control’ or ‘fear’, the ground has truly shifted.”

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This week’s guests: John-Paul Maxfield started the Organic Cannabis Association. Corey Buffkin won four Cannabis Cups at this year’s U.S. Cup in Denver and is launching his own Champion Cannabis.

Play along with our Pot Quiz: Let’s talk about professorships for marijuana law and policy, 2016 presidential candidates who are making mysterious statements and the new DEA chief.