Colorado cannabis documentary “Rolling Papers,” directed by Mitch Dickman, has its world premiere March 15 at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. It’s more than a snicker fest about cannabis, offering a telling glimpse into the state of journalism.
The legal marijuana industry’s banking issues aren’t as sexy as its problems with infused edibles and its sky-high sales numbers — until you think about how these business owners, who often don’t have bank accounts, transport and store these large boxes and duffels of cash. READ MORE
Part IV in a series: This is full circle, in a way, for the family behind Medicine Man, a Colorado marijuana company that wants to be the Costco of weed. The Williams family’s bet on their business plan, tolerance for risk and willingness to be open about their financial books and personal lives have paid off.
Cheeba Chews began as an experiment in a home kitchen and grew into one of the biggest successes of Colorado’s medical marijuana industry. Then, last spring, the medicated chocolate taffy began disappearing from shelves.
In response to concerns over marijuana edibles sold in recreational stores, Colorado officials are drafting stricter potency and dosing-size rules. As extra encouragement, companies making products with 10 milligrams THC or less would face less stringent product testing.
Food safety inspections of businesses that manufacture and sell marijuana edibles in Denver have found products that should be refrigerated sitting out on shelves and preparation methods insufficient to kill bacteria that can cause serious food-borne illness.
State-licensed marijuana testing labs can no longer test for individuals. That leaves curious consumers, hemp growers and anyone who makes their own oils, edibles and tinctures with little recourse.
For the first time, makers of marijuana-infused cookies, cupcakes and candies were required to submit samples to newly licensed independent labs for testing, starting Thursday.
See the first video footage released by the “Rolling Papers” documentary crew that has been tracking The Denver Post journalists and The Cannabist freelance staff. Get the story here
Federal agents on Friday arrested individuals in connection to high-profile November raids on Colorado medical marijuana businesses. U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said the arrests were carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS Criminal Investigations and the Diplomatic Security Service.
A capacity crowd huddled under blankets, wearing coats, gloves and hats for sunrise Easter service at Red Rocks Amphitheater early Sunday. About 14 hours later, Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg would lead a very different, but still capacity, crowd through songs such as “Young, Wild & Free” and “Smoke the Weed.”
The sold-out High Times Cannabis Cup featured an outdoor expo at Denver Mart where marijuana companies offered samples to legally eligible attendees.
State regulators have moved to shut down four interconnected medical marijuana operations under scrutiny since being raided by federal agents in late November.
Sitting at a conference table in his accountant’s office, Andy Williams has a number in mind: $11.5 million. That, he says, is what it would take for him to sell his stake in the marijuana business he and his brother started from nothing.
The state agency overseeing Colorado’s historic experiment in marijuana legalization is adding enforcement agents, data analysis and undercover operatives — steps officials say will help them better hold businesses accountable.
At least three influential officials at the state agency that regulates marijuana business have found work doing cannabis industry consulting after leaving the division, the latest sign of the industry’s growing allure in Colorado.
“Rolling Papers,” a feature documentary on cannabis culture in Colorado as told through marijuana coverage in The Denver Post and website The Cannabist, is currently in production and slated for completion in the fall of 2014.
The number of patients on Colorado’s medical marijuana registry rose ever so slightly in the first month of recreational store sales, according to new figures from state health officials.
The federal government has identified a dozen people in the ongoing investigation stemming from November raids on Colorado medical marijuana businesses. All but one is connected to a chain of five medical marijuana dispensaries and about a half-dozen marijuana grows controlled by Gerardo Uribe, his relatives or associates, records show.
Though the historic step brings marijuana businesses closer to legitimacy in states where pot is already legal, it falls short of the legislative action many banks want to see before doing business with marijuana operators.
Two months after the largest federal raids ever on the Colorado medical-marijuana industry, many of the operators involved are back in business on a smaller scale and one has been denied his attempt to enter the state’s recreational marijuana industry.
Nine relatives from three generations work behind the bulletproof glass at Medicine Man, which opened in 2010, grew into one of the state’s largest medical marijuana dispensaries and has aspirations of becoming a national brand if pot legalization continues its march.
State regulators sought to make their presence known Wednesday — the first day of recreational pot sales in Colorado — sending investigators across the state and patching together a makeshift system to ensure that inventory is being tracked as required.
Colorado’s ambitious experiment in cannabis policy reaches a historic milestone Wednesday, when licensed stores begin making the first legal sales of recreational marijuana anywhere in the world.
The U.S. Treasury department is expected to issue guidance in the first quarter of 2014 giving banks a “yellow light” to work with marijuana businesses, a high-ranking state official said Thursday.
