Cannabist Show: She owns a marijuana shop; He’s a pot baron

Featured guests: Simply Pure co-owner Wanda James and Medicine Man CEO Andy Williams.

TOP MARIJUANA NEWS

• The U.S. government has taken Colorado’s side in a dispute with neighboring states over marijuana legalization and is urging the Supreme Court to not hear a major challenge to the state’s recreational cannabis laws. The new brief filed by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. could have a significant impact on the Supreme Court’s willingness to hear the case against Colorado, drug law experts say. –Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca

• In 2014, the first year of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado and Washington, adolescent cannabis use did not significantly change in either state, according to an important new federal survey. But given Colorado’s flat teen usage numbers, why is the state suddenly ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for teen marijuana use in the 2013-2014 survey after sitting at No. 3 for 2012-13 — a statistic anti-legalization groups are already using as evidence that legalization leads to increased teen use? –Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca

• Of all the animals to be picked to star in a government’s high-profile anti-drug campaign, the sloth is not one that immediately comes to mind. But that’s what they went with for educational videos recently released by the Australian state of New South Wales. The tagline for the teen-aimed videos is, “You’re Worse on Weed,” and the PSAs are all supremely strange. –Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca

POT QUIZ

Test your knowledge on military regulations involving cannabis products, contestants in the Miss Universe pageant talking about legalization, movie stars taking bong hits before the Oscars and Denver marijuana companies subject to multiple pesticide recalls.