Drug Enforcement Administration

Marijuana: Jared Polis signs on to latest bill asking feds to respect state pot laws

Despite ramped-up pressure from national media outlets, the federal government still has not offered a response to the December 10 signing of Amendment 64, which allows adults 21 and over in Colorado to use and possess small amounts of marijuana. Into this vacuum have stepped a number of legislator ... More >>

Marijuana: Save Our Society from Drugs attacks Amendment 64 task force recommendations

Last week, the Amendment 64 task force released a massive, 166-page report filled with recommendations about how best to implement the measure, which allows adults 21 and over in Colorado to use and possess small amounts of marijuana. How does Calvina Fay, executive director of Save Our Society Fro ... More >>

Top ten hemp legends: Which myths are true -- and which went up in smoke?

Did Henry Ford really make a car out of hemp? Was the Declaration of Independence written on hemp paper? Did Abraham Lincoln use hemp oil in his lamps? The hemp plant, a variety of Cannabis sativa that's the subject of this week's cover story "Green Acres," is steeped in lore. Some hemp legends ar ... More >>

Can hemp escape the role of marijuana's sober stepsister?

See also: Top ten hemp legends: Which myths are true -- and which went up in smoke?

Marijuana: Copenhagen to import pot from Colorado?

Earlier this month, eight former DEA administrators wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder encouraging him to crack down on new marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington, in part because they see the measures as violating international treaties regarding drugs. Officials in at least on ... More >>

Marijuana: Eric Holder says fed response to Colorado law coming soon

Yesterday, eight former DEA administrators sent a letter to ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee (see it below), encouraging them to quiz U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder about why the Justice Department hasn't cracked down on Colorado and Washington state over their recently passed ma ... More >>

Marijuana laws in Colorado, Washington should be nullified, say ex-DEA administrators

Tomorrow, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and eight ex-heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration suggest that members ask him why the hell he hasn't brought the hammer down on Colorado and Washington state for their respective pot laws. That ... More >>

Marijuana (still) has no medicinal value, says federal appeals court

Most sane, rational people understand that the cannabis plant has medical properties beneficial to patients who suffer from severe pain, chronic nausea and a number of other conditions. And then you've got the federal government, which has again refused to accept marijuana's medicinal properties.

Our resident critic answers your burning questions about pot

Reader: Barack Obama's a lame duck, so why should he worry about pot-policy backlash

Talk about cross-pollination. On our post about the DEA's response to a Colorado's marijuana-rescheduling request, a conversation broke out about President Barack Obama's pot chat with Barbara Walters. Here's the view of a reader experiencing a case of déjà vu.

Marijuana rescheduling not Amendment 64 "silver bullet," says Mason Tvert

Last week, a number of mainstream media outlets suggested that rescheduling marijuana might bridge the gap between conflicting state and federal laws following the passage of Amendment 64 -- this despite the fact that the federal government took nine months to shrug off Colorado's rescheduling sugge ... More >>

Marijuana: DEA takes nine months to brush off Colorado's reschedule-pot request

High-profile media organizations have started floating the idea of rescheduling marijuana as a way of bridging the gap between federal law and Colorado's in the wake of Amendment 64's passage. As we noted Wednesday, Colorado asked DEA administrator Michele Leonhart to consider doing so this past Dec ... More >>

Marijuana: DEA rescheduling-of-pot idea as Amendment 64 fix hits mainstream

Now that Amendment 64 is law, the mainstream media is beginning to grapple with the contradictions between the act's language and federal law. The latest solution, as floated by the Washington Post and Rachel Maddow fill-in Ezra Klein? Reschedule marijuana so that it is no longer listed as a Schedul ... More >>

Marijuana: Why ex-drug warriors hate Amendment 64, other drug initiatives

Former drug czars, DEA administrators and national "addiction experts" have come out in opposition to Colorado's Amendment 64, as well as similar measures before voters in Washington and Oregon. In other wildly-unexpected news: The sky is, indeed, blue.

Medical marijuana dispensary closure threat letters in Colorado echoed in Washington

For the last eight months or so, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado has been shutting down medical marijuana storefronts within 1,000 feet of schools by simply sending the dispensaries a letter and giving them 45 days to vacate or face possible seizure of their property and assets. The tactic m ... More >>

Lynne Fenton, James Holmes's doctor: Her ex-husband on minor discipline made to look major

Update: Shortly after publishing the following item about Dr. Lynne Fenton, a CU psychiatrist who treated accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, we heard from Steffan Andrews, Fenton's ex-husband, and one of the people to whom she was censured by the state medical board for providing Claritin ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Nathan Do, target in Cherry Top Farms raid, killed in crash

One of the stranger marijuana stories of last year involved a federal raid on Cherry Top Farms dispensary -- one not prompted by an investigation into the center, but due to the targeting of Nathan Do, a man associated with a different MMC, who agents were following. Nathan, along with family member ... More >>

Reader: DEA's equating of marijuana and heroin responsible for smack's new popularity

Yesterday, we featured a video in which Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele Leonhart refused to say marijuana was less harmful than heroin while under questioning from Representative Jared Polis at a U.S. House subcommittee. The clip, and Leonhart's bizarre responses, frustrated a number of comme ... More >>

Photos: 19 busts in Colorado Springs heroin investigation, high schoolers alleged targets?

The Colorado Springs Police Department, working in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, has made a big heroin bust. Nineteen people were arrested, including one juvenile and eight under the age of 21 -- many of them alleged users rather than dealers. Their youth makes se ... More >>

Dark Angel meth arrests: Armando Mendoza-Haro among 22 busted in cross-country scheme

In decrying the resources wasted in a failed prosecution of medical marijuana caregiver Josh Jones (a total he estimated at over $100,000), attorney Rob Corry suggested that law enforcers focus on meth rather than weed. Little did he know that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado and the Organized ... More >>

Marijuana is real medicine for a long list of ills

Marijuana: 25 dispensaries' closure to protect "students," not just children

Monday was the deadline for 25 medical marijuana centers near schools targeted in a second wave of closure-threat letters from U.S. Attorney John Walsh to shut their doors -- and all of them did. A third wave is coming, promises Walsh's spokesman, who now stresses his boss's efforts to protect not ... More >>

Jared Polis rips DEA agent Barbara Roach for anti-medical marijuana dispensary quote

Denver blog posts think it's nice to be nice to the nice. Colorado Pols on Jared Polis's slam of DEA agent Barbara Roach, who wants to move to a city where dispensaries are banned. The Independence Institute's Amy Oliver on which lawmakers put rate-payers above Xcel. 5280's photo of the week spot ... More >>

Medical marijuana seizure letters: 22 shops shut, five enforcement actions

Update below: The U.S. Attorney's Office under John Walsh has now confirmed that dispensaries near schools that received a seizure-threat letter have stopped doing business at previous locations. But this confirmation comes with new info. Although 23 letters were sent, one was subsequently withdrawn ... More >>

Hell's Lovers: Nineteen suspects appear in court on drugs, weapons, explosives charges

Big photos below.​Nineteen members of the Hell's Lovers motorcycle gang appeared in court yesterday -- so many that the suspects reportedly filled the jury box and flooded into the front-row area reserved for observers. That's the scope of federal indictments on view below, which allege a slew ... More >>

Medical marijuana: 23 dispensaries targeted by U.S. Attorney only "first wave"

John Walsh.​Update: U.S. Attorney John Walsh's letter to 23 medical marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools, which threatens seizure and forfeiture if they don't stop operating within 45 days, is a blow to the state's MMJ industry. And spokesman Jeff Dorschner stresses that it won' ... More >>

Department of Revenue chief petitions feds to ease up on MMJ

As mandated by state law, the director of the state Department of Revenue formally requested that the federal government reconsider their position on medical marijuana last week. Thanks to an often-forgotten clause in House Bill 1284, which laid the framework for the current regulatory system in pl ... More >>

Top ten Westword marijuana news stories of 2011

​From regulations changing and shops being raided, to pizza delivery guys calling the cops on tokers, it has been an interesting year for medical marijuana in Colorado. Below is our top ten list of Westword's most popular marijuana stories of 2011 as well as links to the original posts.

Marijuana: 2 guvs petition feds to reclassify pot, but John Hickenlooper not ready to do so -- yet

This week, governors in Rhode Island and Washington asked the federal government to concede that marijuana has medical uses. A Colorado official is required to send a similar message by year's end -- but would John Hickenlooper consider following the lead of these fellow governors and do the deed hi ... More >>

Ray Enright, R.I.P.: Remembering the top drug cop who took down Vito Genovese

Vito Genovese.​John Ray Enright died this past weekend at the age of 85, leading to some polite tributes here and there, with most focusing on his years as director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in the 1970s and 1980s and his subsequent service as a member of the Colorado Parole Boar ... More >>

Marijuana bust: Chicago-Colorado Springs link, and possible tie to extraction pro Matt Schnur

​Last week, DEA personnel announced four arrests related to a marijuana shipment from Colorado Springs to Chicago. All the busts were made in Illinois, but a grow was destroyed near the Springs, and extraction expert Matt Schnur has been named in a related press account. What's Schnur's story? ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division: No decision about Cherry Top Farms reopening

During the raid.​It's been almost a month since authorities raided Cherry Top Farms dispensary, even though the center wasn't the target of an investigation. But the MMC remains closed, and while Cherry Top reps met with the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division yesterday, there's still no ti ... More >>

Med. marijuana 3rd-party testing okay despite Full Spectrum's shutdown, says CannLabs

CannLabs​Earlier this month, we reported that medical marijuana testing facility Full Spectrum Labs had shut down until the state can promulgate a specific MMJ research license. But CannLabs, which also does cannabis testing, is still open for business, and co-owner Genifer Murray is confident ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Workgroup's dull meeting highlighted by awarding of first MMC license

​The ambiguously-named Medical Marijuana Workgroup met yesterday, and although the point was to create transparency between state and city officials and the medical marijuana center owners, the results were more akin to a big back-patting session for everyone involved.

Reader: Don't expect Colorado's request to DEA to reschedule marijuana to be enthusiastic

​Yesterday, we noted that HB 1284, which set medical marijuana regs, requires the state to ask the DEA to designate pot as a Schedule II controlled substance. Plenty of commentary followed, including the following post, whose author doesn't expect Department of Revenue executive director Barba ... More >>

Medical marijuana seed-to-sale tracking system already worrying advocates -- but should it?

​In August, the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division awarded a $1.5 million contract to Franwell Inc. to institute a seed-to-sale marijuana tracking method for Colorado MMJ enterprises using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. And while the system isn't expected to be in place ... More >>

Marijuana: Colorado to formally ask DEA to designate pot Schedule II controlled substance

​The Drug Enforcement Administration dubs marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance -- meaning it has no accepted medical use. Switching pot to Schedule II, like morphine and cocaine, among other drugs, would instantly change the dynamic between the feds and medical marijuana states. And a C ... More >>

Reader: Colorado stood and watched as feds burned Cherry Top Farms dispensary

​The conversation about the DEA raid on the Cherry Top Farms dispensary continued on an update post, in which attorney Bob Hoban spoke positively about the decision by the feds not to bust the center's employees. One reader found this viewpoint hopelessly naive.

Marijuana: Petition authors on why they want MMJ limited to DEA-approved pharmacies

Dean Beers.​The White House has established the We the People website, where folks can post petitions on the topics of their choice -- and if they garner enough support (currently 25,000 signatures in thirty days), an administration will review it and offer a response. Currently, many of the ... More >>

Marijuana raid: Cherry Top Farms still closed, attorney hopes for cooperation from state

Cherry Top.​The Cherry Top Farms dispensary wasn't the target of a DEA raid last week -- but the feds confiscated 2,500 plants anyhow. Cherry Top's owners wanted to open up again early this week. But the dispensary's still closed at this writing -- and still losing money -- due in part to the ... More >>

Marijuana raid: Cherry Top Farms compliant with state, but feds still seize plants, medicine

Big pic below.​Update: According to the manager at the Cherry Top Farms medical marijuana center, a raid yesterday targeted a contract grower, not Cherry Top or any of its employees. But because federal officers were involved, they seized all of the dispensary's live plants, medicine and more, ... More >>

Marijuana raid: Feds seized 2,500 plants from Cherry Top Farms after following suspect's truck

​This morning, the manager of Cherry Top Farms dispensary, raided yesterday by the DEA and other agencies, shared his version of the story, including his claim that the center was in compliance with all state regs. There's nothing to contradict this claim in info supplied by the U.S. Attorney' ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Reverend Brandon Baker challenges state MMJ laws in Federal court

Rev. Brandon Baker.​The Reverend Brandon Baker, who's with the ganja-based Greenfaith Ministry, has a lot of titles. He's a farmer, a father, an activist, a religious leader -- and now a self-professed legal scholar who says he's found a way to end Colorado's medical marijuana regulations, wh ... More >>

Medical marijuana: New exemption to 35 day rule means patients don't have to wait for pot

Update below: Until last fall, medical marijuana centers could sell cannabis to patients as soon as they submitted licensing paperwork. Then, the Department of Revenue began enforcing what became known as the 35-day rule, named for the time application processing was supposed to take (although it of ... More >>

Drug enforcement checkpoint on I-25: Five tickets, two arrests out of 32 stops

​Update:On August 9, the Westminster Police Department manned a "DRUG ENFORCEMENT CHECKPOINT" on I-25. Last week, WPD Investigator Trevor Materasso confirmed the operation, but didn't have many details. Now, however, he's able to provide the specifics. Officers issued tickets or made arrests i ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Judge tosses cop lawsuit alleging internal leaks and retaliation

Dan Tang.​Operation Fortune Cookie, a 2008 raid netting 24,000 marijuana plants, was the largest weed bust in state history -- but it imploded among claims of police snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Last March, two Fortune Cookie investigators, Daniel Joyce and Ro ... More >>

Medical marijuana: DEA could raid any day, but we go to work anyway, says dispensary staffer

​Last week, a spokesman for Representative Jared Polis expressed disappointment with a Justice Department medical marijuana memo that some in the MMJ industry saw as paving the way for DEA raids on dispensaries. Polis doesn't think such incidents are imminent, and neither does Colorado Dispens ... More >>

Marijuana: DEA proposal, new Colorado law could lead to Big Pharma boom, attorney says

​Last month, we told you about a loophole in HB 1043, the medical marijuana cleanup bill, that could let Big Pharma firms get involved in the Colorado MMJ industry. Now, the Drug Enforcement Administration has made a new proposal involving marijuana extracts, and attorney Warren Edson sees it ... More >>

Medical marijuana and pharmacists: A prescription for confusion?

​What should pharmacists do about medical marijuana? Because it's a criminalized substance under federal law, pharmacists, like other health-care workers, aren't supposed to have anything to do with it. On the other hand, pharmacists want to meet the needs of their patients, many of whom have ... More >>

Marijuana legalization: Pharmaceutical firms eye potential market worth tens of billions

​A March report from See Change Strategy LLC pegged the national medical marijuana market at $1.7 billion, with the market doubling in five years. Impressive, sure, but according to InvestorPlace.com, a prominent financial site, it's a relative drop in the bucket compared to the $10 billion to ... More >>