Drug Enforcement Administration

Hemp-farming registry bill passes; first plants are bound for the ground

A bill to register hemp farmers with the state has been approved by lawmakers. Now all it needs is the governor's signature before a nine-member committee can begin assisting the Department of Agriculture in developing a process that will allow the good people of Colorado to engage in widespread pla ... More >>

Hemp symposium tonight in Loveland to cover growing it, selling it and what to expect

Thanks to Amendment 64, industrial hemp is on its way to becoming a legitimate crop in Colorado. Tonight in Loveland, hemp industry bigwigs will gather to discuss how hemp is grown and processed, the market for the crop and what farmers interested in growing it can expect. (For instance, hemp does ... More >>

Marijuana: United Nations board says Colorado pot law violates international treaties

As we reported earlier today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder didn't choose his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee to share the Justice Department response to marijuana laws in Colorado that contradict federal policy. The measures contradict international treaties, too, as a new rep ... More >>

Marijuana: Jeremy Usher, Navy vet, could go to jail for treating his PTSD with cannabis

After returning from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq ten years ago, Navy veteran Jeremy Usher experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder according to the Greeley Tribune. He subsequently tried treating his condition with alcohol, resulting in multiple DUIs and a probationary sentence. But ... More >>

Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act: Sponsor Jared Polis claims bipartisan support

As Colorado lawmakers attempt to figure out the federal government's stance on Amendment 64, a potential light at the end of the tunnel popped up on Tuesday. Representatives Jared Polis and Earl Blumenauer unveiled the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013, a measure that would effectivel ... More >>

Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013: Read Jared Polis-sponsored bill

Update: Moments after sharing the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013, a potentially groundbreaking piece of legislation co-sponsored by Colorado Representative Jared Polis, we've received more information. Look below to see a statement from Polis on the bill, as well as a fact sheet l ... More >>

Marijuana legalization's biggest enemies -- and their Colorado ties

This week, Rolling Stone published its list of marijuana legalization's biggest enemies. And by coincidence, all five of those who made the RS roster have been recently featured in this space. And in the case of the top dog, Kevin Sabet, very recently.

Will The Last Stand be Arnold's last stand?

Marijuana: Colorado Springs owes $3.3M-plus after dispensary prosecution fails, attorney says

In March, Rocky Mountain Miracles owner Ali Hillery was hit with felony charges over alleged discrepancies in the Colorado Springs dispensary's plant count. She was cleared of these charges last month, and her attorney, Sean McAllister, issued a motion calling for material seized by authorities to b ... More >>

Marijuana petition asks Joe Biden not to push for crackdown on Colorado, Washington

The longer the federal government waits to tell Colorado and Washington whether it will allow the states to determine their own marijuana policy after each passed pot-reform measures, the more theories surface about who in the administration might prove to be an impediment. The latest involves Vice ... More >>

Amendment 64: John Hickenlooper setting up broad task force regarding marijuana measure

Later today, representatives of Colorado NORML will meet with governor's office staffers about Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act. As NORML's Sean McAllister told us yesterday, they'll stress the need for cannabis consumers to have a seat at the table -- and a statement about a pr ... More >>

Marijuana: Amendment 64 blasted by Douglas County sheriff, Mason Tvert responds

The powers-that-be in Douglas County really, really oppose Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act. Yesterday, the Dougco commissioners passed a strongly worded resolution against the measure, while Sheriff David Weaver launched a salvo that paints a world in which Amendment 64 is law ... More >>

Marijuana community divide on Amendment 64 deep, wide, often nasty

Update below: Think everyone in the marijuana community is behind Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act? Think again. The measure has pitted advocates against advocates, frequently in online combat of the sort that recently turned the Coloradans 4 Cannabis Patient Rights Facebook gro ... More >>

Marijuana advocates respond to report saying medical pot is being diverted

Yesterday, we shared a new report from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area citing more than seventy examples of medical marijuana from Colorado being diverted for illegal purposes, with RMHIDTA director Tom Gorman arguing that passage of Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like ... More >>

Tonight: Deanne Stillman's Desert Reckoning at Tattered Cover

Deanne Stillman's richly textured works of nonfiction about life and death in the Mojave Desert involve more than casual research, and consequently take some time in the writing -- from eight to ten years each. Her true-crime debut, Twentynine Palms, explored the 1991 murder of two girls by a berser ... More >>

Friends can also betray you: Mexicans pay in blood for America's War on Drugs

Also read: Magical homicides: How Mexico lies about murders

Breaking Bad's 10 greatest scenes (so far)

For four seasons, Breaking Bad has chronicled the journey of Walter White from "Mr Chips to Scarface," as creator Vince Gilligan puts it. The end of the last season saw White taking out his number one adversary in spectacular fashion, marking the beginning of the final phase of his transformation. S ... More >>

Hemp industry leaders to donate $50K to Amendment 64, marijuana regulation act

Amendment 64 is known as the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, but its provisions go beyond allowing adults to use cannabis recreationally. The initiative also directs the legislature to "enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp" by July 2014 -- language ... More >>

Marijuana: Industrial hemp study bill approved, but hurdles remain

With the passing of HB 1099 yesterday, which creates a soil remediation study using hemp as the filtering agent, Colorado could be the first state in the nation to grow industrial hemp since the late 1930s. But passing the bill was just the first obstacle. Actually implementing the plan might be mo ... More >>

Conrado Arellano-Casa among seventeen sentenced in Mexico-to-U.S. pot ring

Even as proponents push Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, law enforcers continue to place a high priority on arresting and prosecuting people for pot-related offenses. Case in point: The Jeffco DA's office announcement regarding the sentences imposed on seventeen people so far ( ... More >>

Medical marijuana caregiver Stylios Trachanas's bust as much about illegal weapons as weed

Reports about Stylios Trachanas's court appearance on Friday led with his role as a medical marijuana caregiver, as did a U.S. Attorney's Office release. But while his MMJ work will contribute to his sentence, he may not have been arrested at all if he hadn't used and possessed weapons forbidden to ... More >>

Marijuana: DA Stan Garnett defends telling feds to back off Boulder MMCs

Update:This week, Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh asking him not to send seizure threats to any Boulder medical marijuana dispensaries conforming to state and local land use regulations. When asked about the note, Walsh's spokesman said his boss woul ... More >>

THC driving bill: Marijuana lawyer Rob Corry suggests a compromise

​This afternoon, Senator Steve King's revival of a THC-driving-limits bill will be the focus of a hearing at the State Capitol. In advance of the debate, attorney Rob Corry has released a letter, on view below, in which he argues against the measure. However, he also floats a compromise idea t ... More >>

Underwear bomber to join list of ten most notorious prisoners at Supermax?

Big photos below.​Disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod "Blago" Blagojevich isn't the only infamous convict likely to be Colorado bound. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, dubbed the Underwear Bomber after a failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane on Christmas 2009, has been sentenced to life ... More >>

Colorado Medical Marijuana Handbook author on which states are likeliest raid targets

As one of the authors of California's Proposition 215, which sanctioned medical cannabis for the first time in the United States, as well as several legal handbooks, Michael Malott has a unique perspective on the medical marijuana laws that have been passed since. And he's just published a book tha ... More >>

Med. marijuana: Eric Holder okay with lawful MMCs, but do threats remain?

Video below.​This week, Congressman Jared Polis quizzed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder about the Department of Justice's approach to medical marijuana; see a video of the exchange below. For the most part, Holder suggested that MMJ businesses following state law are not Department of Justic ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Physician assistants the cause of delayed applications?

​The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced last week that as many as 4,000 medical marijuana patient applications and renewals were being held up in order "to ensure patients and physicians are within guidelines." Despite the CDPHE's vagueness, we've learned that many ... More >>

Anthony Harvey, home decor expert -- and drug-ring leader, claims indictment (VIDEOS)

Big pic below.​Decorative Concrete Finishes' Anthony Harvey is the star and narrator of videos on his YouTube channel in which he and his crew reveal how an average backyard can be transformed into a showplace; see examples below. However, his current spotlight time doesn't focus on his skills ... More >>

Update: Med. Marijuana Enforcement Division chief Dan Hartman out? Revenue dept. responds

Dan Hartman.​Update: We've now received a response from Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch regarding persistent reports from multiple medical marijuana industry sources that Dan Hartman will depart as director of the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division at day's end. Couch's ... More >>

Medical marijuana workers joining UFCW Local 7: Is weed a growth area for unions?

Mark Belkin.​The conflict between federal and state laws present a challenge to the medical marijuana industry, as last week's DEA raid on the Cherry Top Farms dispensary demonstrates. But there's also growing institutional acceptance, illustrated by today's press conference announcing the uni ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Full Spectrum Labs shutting doors until state license is issued

Last week, we re-posted this month's Chronic-le feature story on high-CBD strains around Colorado, with our selections based on Full Spectrum Labs tests. But those might be the last results we get from Full Spectrum for a while. FSL announced last week that it's shutting down Octobert 14 until the ... More >>

Marijuana PTSD study roadblock example of feds' schizophrenia, says Brian Vicente

Last year, Colorado's health department refused to approve medical marijuana for treating post-traumatic stress disorder -- but one branch of the federal government appeared ready to test pot's PTSD effectiveness. Now, however, the plan's on hold, much to the chagrin of Brian Vicente, who's long fou ... More >>

Medical marijuana dispensary review: Grass Roots Organica in Denver

www.grassrootsorganica.com​Grass Roots Organica sounds like the name of a noodle-dancing hippie jam band out of Boudler -- and as such, I've avoided it. But they were still around on July 1, so I figured it wasn't just another fly-by-night dispensary hoping to cash in before regulations shut i ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Could the Justice Department arrest state MMJ employees?

Eric Holder.​Ever since U.S. Attorney John Walsh sent a letter suggesting that parts of HB 1043, the medical marijuana cleanup bill, would likely violate U.S. law, the local MMJ community has feared a federal crackdown on the industry -- and perhaps even on state employees regulating it. Do co ... More >>

Medical marijuana: Rob Corry wouldn't sign MMJ clean-up bill if he were John Hickenlooper

Rob Corry.​Last October, attorney Rob Corry wrote to John Hickenlooper to ask the then-Denver mayor to stop prosecuting Lacy Lee, a woman busted for smoking pot at a pro-cannabis rally; the case was later dropped. Now, Corry's written to Hick again, this time to offer expert analysis on HB 104 ... More >>