Author: Kristen Wyatt
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Colorado announces largest pot bust since drug was legalized
DENVER — A mammoth marijuana trafficking ring that pretended to be growing weed for sick people was instead illegally shipping the drug to a half-dozen other states and bilking investors, including former NFL players, Colorado officials announced Wednesday. A Denver grand jury indicted 62 people and 12 businesses in the case that involved federal and…
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As pot comes out of black market, regulators face scrutiny
DENVER — Take a black-market business that relies on cash. Move the business out of the shadows by giving it government oversight. Hire new regulators to keep watch on the business, all without any experience regulating a brand-new industry. The result can be a recipe for government corruption. Recent cases in Colorado and Washington are…
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Court: Neighbors can sue pot grower for stinky smells
DENVER — A pot farm’s neighbor can sue them for smells and other nuisances that could harm their property values, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling revives a lawsuit between a Colorado horse farm and a neighboring marijuana-growing warehouse. The horse farm’s owners, the Reillys, sued in…
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Colorado GOP blocks nation’s 1st well-mapping requirement
DENVER — Colorado Republicans used a late-night filibuster Monday to block a first-of-its-kind requirement that oil and gas producers provide the locations of all their gas lines. Democrats who rule the House were planning to pass the bill before midnight, their deadline to get it to the governor’s desk before the Legislature concludes work for…
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Colorado teen sexting law unanimously passes in House vote
DENVER — A teen-sexting law that has befuddled Colorado lawmakers for years appeared Wednesday to be moving closer to reality after lawmakers in the legislature’s lower house passed it unanimously, sending it to the Senate. The measure to create several new crimes for juvenile sexting passed 65-0 and represents a compromise after years of debate…
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Inside a Colorado pot club – a rare and endangered species
COLORADO SPRINGS — It’s the fish tank featuring a colorful reef made of glass marijuana pipes that ultimately sets the Speakeasy Vape Lounge apart from any other strip-mall bar and confirms what it really is: one of the United States’ only legal pot clubs. The fact that it and a few dozen like it already…
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Poll: Marijuana safer than opioids, but moms shouldn’t use
DENVER — Americans think it’s safer to use marijuana than opioids to relieve pain, but they were less comfortable with children and pregnant women using pot to treat medical conditions, according to a new Yahoo/Marist poll released Monday. Two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin are…
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Colorado ends plans for pot clubs over Trump uncertainty
DENVER — Colorado lawmakers on Thursday backed off plans to become the first U.S. state to regulate marijuana clubs, saying approval of Amsterdam-style pot clubs could invite a federal crackdown. It was perhaps the starkest display yet of legal pot states’ uncertainty on how to regulate the drug under President Donald Trump. Alaska marijuana regulators…
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Colorado set to prohibit marijuana co-op growing operations
DENVER — Colorado was set Monday to outlaw marijuana growing co-ops soon after the state Senate unanimously approved a bill making it a crime for people to cultivate recreational pot for other people. The bill supported by the office of Gov. John Hickenlooper passed 35-0 but it was unclear when he would sign it. There…
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Colorado weighs strategy for guarding against pot crackdown
DENVER — Colorado is considering an unusual strategy to protect its nascent marijuana industry from a potential federal crackdown, even at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections. A bill pending in the Legislature would allow pot growers and retailers to reclassify their recreational pot as medical pot if a change…