Author: Chris Osher
-
Marijuana cultivator files class-action lawsuit over state ‘distortions’ in excise tax collections
Plaintiff says state owes over $100 million in refunds The regulators of Colorado’s first-in-the-nation recreational marijuana market have allowed so many sham transactions in the industry to proliferate that honest cultivators and manufacturers shoulder an unfair excise tax burden, claims a lawsuit filed on Thursday that seeks class-action status. The lawsuit, filed by a large-scale…
-
In private meeting, Colorado marijuana regulators acknowledge extent of illegal hemp sales
One regulator said the extent of the suspicious transactions would ‘explode your minds.’ This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. A top regulator for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division acknowledged in a private meeting with industry representatives that the amount of chemically converted hemp being illegally sold as marijuana is far greater…
-
Colorado marijuana regulators pledge crackdown on intoxicating hemp
Citing potential tax avoidance, ‘serious risk to public safety,’ Marijuana Enforcement Division warns companies about swapping illegal chemically converted hemp for marijuana This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Denver Gazette. Colorado regulators announced on Monday that they plan to crack down on companies that illegally substitute cheaper and…
-
Colorado marijuana regulators consider major changes to how labs test for contaminants
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Denver Gazette. Sign up for Dispatches to get our stories in your inbox every week. Colorado marijuana manufacturers would no longer be allowed to choose which product samples they send for mandatory lab testing under a new regulatory proposal discussed at a…
-
Smoke and mirrors: How intoxicating hemp seeped into the first recreational marijuana market in the country
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Gazette. Sign up for Dispatches to get our stories in your inbox every week. The owner of a marijuana testing lab called a top regulator in Colorado on his cellphone in April 2024 with an urgent situation. “We’ve got something that’s kind…
-
We tested vapes in Colorado for signs of hemp. This is what we found.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Gazette. Sign up for Dispatches to get our stories in your inbox every week. Leaders in the Colorado marijuana industry have complained in recent years that intoxicating products derived from hemp are endangering consumers and creating unfair competition, threatening to upend the…
-
El Paso County settles developer’s wrongful prosecution lawsuit for $3 million
El Paso County has reached a $3 million settlement with the developer Ray Marshall to resolve his federal lawsuit alleging a former investigator for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office fabricated evidence and withheld evidence from his criminal defense lawyers. The lawsuit, which sought damages as high as $475 million, alleged Marshall was wrongfully prosecuted…
-
Controversial parental evaluator faces suspension and warnings
Colorado court administrators suspended parental evaluator Stephanie Norris from accepting court appointments after finding Norris failed to acknowledge an issue was beyond her competency when a judge appointed her to make custody recommendations in a contentious Moffat County case. The Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office also issued four written warnings against Norris in response to…
-
Colorado Attorney General shuts down high potency THC hemp seller
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Monday announced his office has shut down a Greeley firm that was selling over the internet high potency THC intoxicating products derived from hemp. Weiser’s office last week reached a settlement with Gee Distributors, doing business as CBDDY, resolving a consumer fraud lawsuit. The settlement bars the firm and…
-
Former Colorado parental evaluator’s deception costs her 4-year prison sentence
Judges throughout Colorado once relied on Shannon McShane’s custody recommendations, but the lies she made to those judge as a court-appointed parental evaluator and her retaliation against a parent who exposed her deceptions landed her a sentence of four years in prison. Denver District Court Judge Alex Myers on Monday rejected attempts by McShane and…