The Cannabist Network

Recent posts by The Cannabist Network

710 is the new 420: Is butane hash oil the crack cocaine of the 2010s?

About two-and-a-half years ago I wrote an article entitled “The Danger of Dabs.” It got me more hate mail than just about anything I’ve written, presumably from the 710 crowd reading the title only and thinking I was vilifying the cannabis concentrate itself. Had they continued reading, they would have reached the point, which was this:

Direct from Amsterdam: Five tips on growing your own marijuana at home

I recently had the chance to visit Soma — the dreadlocked American expatriate who has guided his company, Soma’s Sacred Seeds, to the top of the industry — at his house in Amsterdam.

Pot banking: Colorado co-op plan adds hemp farmers

Backing down from a five-hour fight over whether industrial hemp farmers should be able to access a new credit union-like arrangement for Colorado marijuana businesses, the state House voted 33-31 to pass a pot banking bill that would create the first cooperative of its kind.

Nationwide Spice bust: 9 arrests in Colorado tied to synthetic cannabinoids

Law enforcement officers arrested nine suspected members of an international drug ring that marketed a synthetic form of marijuana called spice, a drug that has been linked to serious illnesses, hallucinations and even death.

Free pot for veterans: Colo. group plans giveaway

A Colorado group plans to give free recreational marijuana and pot-growing supplies to United States military veterans. Operation Grow4Vets said it is launching Project Better Medicine to give veterans the “best medical treatment” available.

Multiple marijuana bills advance in Colorado Legislature

Colorado lawmakers neared agreement Monday on a series of marijuana spending and regulation plans, all modest proposals compared with last year’s splashy set of pot bills to regulate the state’s new industry.

Hash oil extraction explosions more widespread in Colorado

The opening months of Colorado’s first-in-the-nation recreational marijuana industry have seen a rise in fiery explosions and injuries as pot users try to make hash oil in home-based laboratories. Since Jan. 1, the state’s only certified adult burn center has treated 10 people with serious injuries they suffered while making hash oil, compared with 11 in 2013 and one in 2012.

Pot banking “co-op” plan survives Colo. House, moves on to Senate

A last-minute legislative effort to create a first-of-its-kind banking cooperative for Colorado’s marijuana industry skipped through the House early Monday, but is headed for an uncertain future in the Senate.

Attorney: Fed indictments “shot across bow” of Colo. marijuana industry

The federal indictments against four men involved in the Colorado marijuana industry are “a shot across the bow” of all cannabis businesses that raise questions about the federal government’s tolerance for the industry, an attorney for one of the men said in court Monday. Sean McAllister, the attorney for suspect Gerardo Uribe, said Uribe believed he was operating the VIP Cannabis dispensary and his other marijuana businesses lawfully under state law.

Individuals seeking marijuana lab testing in Colorado left out

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.

Uruguay pot laws: President Mujica calls out Colorado law “hypocrisy”

President Jose Mujica said Friday that his country’s legal marijuana market will be much better than Colorado’s, where he says the rules are based on “fiction” and “hypocrisy” because the state loses track of the drug once it’s sold and many people fake illnesses to get prescription weed.

Marijuana co-op finance bill refuses to die in Colorado statehouse

A late bill to create co-ops to finance the marijuana industry has come back from a near-death experience. House Bill 1398 got off to a strong start Thursday in the House Business Committee, only to get gutted late that evening in the House Finance Committee before House Appropriations restored the original version Friday morning and sent the measure to a vote on the House floor.

Mandatory THC testing for edibles begins in Colorado

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.

Proposal to seal minor pot convictions dies in Colorado Senate

A bill that would allow those previously convicted of marijuana offenses that would be legal today under Amendment 64 to seal their records was killed Thursday by the Senate’s Appropriations Committee on a 4-3 vote.

Cannabis credit union? Colo. bill would create banking option for pot businesses

Colorado legislators have proposed the creation of financial service cooperatives — the business equivalent of a credit union — for legal marijuana shops as a solution to the vexing issue of how to get banking services to the pot industry.

Marijuana raids: Indicted businessmen once had ties to Denver’s elite

On Thursday, two of the indicted businessmen walked into a federal courtroom wearing jail-issued jumpsuits for their second hearing since their arrests on Monday. Both David Furtado and Luis Uribe pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering and attempting to engage in an illegal financial transaction.

Bill to seal minor pot convictions passed by Colo. Senate committee

After more than two hours of debate, the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow Coloradans convicted of marijuana offenses that would have been legal had Amendment 64 been in place to petition district courts to have their records sealed.

Edibles task force considers ways to help consumers, including potency icons

Colorado’s marijuana experiment is threatened by the popularity of eating it instead of smoking it, leading the pot industry to join health officials and state regulators to try to curb the problem of consumers ingesting too much weed. A task force gathered Wednesday to start brainstorming ways to educate consumers, including a standard warning system on popular edibles.

DEA raids four Denver pot sites linked to VIP Cannabis (map)

Federal authorities raided again multiple Denver medical marijuana businesses in dramatic fashion Wednesday — smashing doors, yanking out pot plants and cash, sawing safes open and driving the seized items away in U-Haul trucks.

Colombian man in Colorado medical marijuana raids pleads not guilty

Hector Diaz, a Colombian national who was among four men indicted on federal money laundering charges in connection with raids on the Colorado medical-marijuana industry pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday morning.

Colorado Symphony Orchestra, cannabis industry partner for concert series

The cultural revolution that is making marijuana part of everyday Colorado life conquers another established front Tuesday as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra announces a series of performances sponsored by the cannabis industry.

Feds: 4 men funneled Colombian cash to Colorado

Federal prosecutors have indicted four men on allegations that they funneled and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars from Colombia to buy a warehouse in Denver for marijuana cultivation. The charges, unsealed Monday, are the latest outcome of last year’s DEA raids in Colorado.

Editorial: Dangerous advice on edibles dosage when caution is crucial

In the wake of two deaths that might be associated with the consumption of marijuana edibles, retail pot shops should be advising customers to ingest small portions of any edible product to see how they react.

Poll: Coloradans still OK with pot, but not OK with elected officials toking

Coloradans approve of marijuana, but not so much when it comes to elected officials using the mind-altering drug. State residents say “marijuana has been good for Colorado” by a margin of 52 to 38 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday morning.

Colorado raids update: Feds make arrests, IDs withheld

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.

TV’s May sweeps: Time to bust out the weed coverage

Expect plenty of marijuana coverage from all major Denver TV news outlets for the May sweeps period. Because Colorado is the center of the recreational pot universe, it’s a natural. The depth of coverage, or lack thereof, will offer insight into each local news shop.

Colorado lawmakers’ plan: Shuffle pot money to get more funds from feds

The federal government has reluctantly agreed to let Colorado be the first state to collect taxes from the legal sale of recreational marijuana, but it also has made clear it doesn’t agree with the move and may try to stop it, if isn’t tightly controlled.

U.S. weighs clemency for some nonviolent federal inmates with drug-related convictions

The Justice Department has unveiled a revamped clemency process directed at low-level felons imprisoned for at least 10 years who have clean records while in custody. The effort is part of a broader administration push to scale back the use of harsh penalties in some drug prosecutions and to address sentencing disparities arising from the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic that yielded disproportionately tough punishment for black drug offenders.