In the face of 100,000-plus medical marijuana registry applications over the past year, the state’s MMJ identification verification process slowed to an agonizing seven- or eight-month turnaround, triggering outcry from the marijuana community. Now, the health department says the backlog is gone and applicants are finally getting their cards within…
Colorado’s health department has been trying to catch up on its tremendous backlog of medical marijuana applications amid persistent rumors that it’s been doing so with the help of a private company, thereby violating patient confidentiality. Turns out that’s not true, although there’s a logical reason why it seems that…
Last week, we told you about a Colorado Springs planning commission meeting that had the potential of essentially outlawing 69 medical marijuana centers, or 41 percent of the city’s total. How did it go? According to Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council president Tanya Garduno, worse than she feared. “It was…
In our fall Caregivers’ Cup preview, organizer Tim Tipton predicted a crowd of 2,000, seventy-plus judged strains and an epic joint-rolling contest — but that proved too optimistic. Tipton puts the actual turnout at 600, notes that just 22 strains were critiqued, and says the contest didn’t happen. (See photos…
In our preview of this weekend’s Caregivers’ Cup medical marijuana contest, we noted that glass-master Wes Richards is creating a traveling trophy for the Cup — a five-foot-tall, Colorado-themed bong. This tribute to Rocky Mountain highs isn’t done yet, but Cup organizer Tim Tipton has provided us with some amazing…
Dear Arizona, How are things? We haven’t talked much lately, what with all of the craziness you guys got into with the feds. But I wanted to congratulate you on (barely) passing your MMJ laws!…
Colorado’s medical marijuana population continues to swell. According to the state health department, 113,000 people are now on the medical marijuana registry, meaning the total MMJ population here may soon surpass the population of Thornton, the state’s sixth largest city…
This dispensary has closed. It’s my favorite strip of pavement in this town, but I don’t make it to East Colfax nearly enough. It’s always so amazingly weird there. Where else can you get offered everything from street tacos, hookers and crack at a food truck (true story) to coffee…
Last January, Mile High NORML staged a pro-cannabis rally across the street from the State Capitol to correspond with the opening of the legislative session; see photos below. But advocate Miguel Lopez’s attempt to stage a sequel has hit a stumbling block. The state has denied him a permit for…
Gustavo Arellano and Tom Tancredo didn’t find much common ground in their debate about illegal immigration Tuesday night, but they did agree that the war on drugs has been a very costly failure. A new report seeks to quantify that costby looking at the long-term effects of adding increasing numbers…
It looks like I missed the worst of it. Just four months ago, I sent in my application to renew my medical marijuana card and have been waiting on the edge of my seat to see if they would reject me for some trivial minutia ever since…
While members of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council are celebrating results showing that an El Paso County measure to ban medical marijuana businesses officially lost at the polls, they’re already facing another potential crisis. According to CSMCC president Tanya Garduno, a zoning change under consideration tomorrow could force the…
The morning after election day, a medical marijuana business ban vote in El Paso County was close enough to require a provisional ballot count Vote No on 1A spokesman Mike Elliott predicted would take quite a while, and he was right. Last night, officials finally confirmed the measure lost –…
Colorado is still enjoying the considerable windfall from its brand-new medical marijuana business licensing fees. As first reported by Face the State, Colorado has now collected more than $8 million in MMJ licensing fees since the rules went into effect this August, up from $7.3 million this summer…
Moments from now, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office will return hash it seized from medical marijuana patient Gregory VonAlmen — and Von Almen’s attorney, Rob Corry, believes the decision sets a precedent by establishing that marijuana concentrate and other related products are also protected by Amendment 20, which legalized MMJ…
The fall edition of the Caregivers’ Cup is set for this weekend, and the event keeps growing and growing. Organizer Tim Tipton predicts a crowd of 2,000 will attend the extravaganza. But he’s already been caught off-guard by a controversy within the medical marijuana community about the original flier used…
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s recent rejection of nearly 2,000 medical marijuana patient licenses over a quiet rule change caused such an uproar that the department promised to temporarily reinstate licenses for around 1,300 MMJ users — among them Larry Shurtleff, who suffers from stage 4 cancer…
Marijuana activist Miguel Lopez is throwing himself a birthday party on Sunday, November 14, at Casselman’s, and everyone’s invited. But Lopez doesn’t want any gifts. Instead, he’s planning to divvy up proceeds from the bash between various weed-related causes, including legalization efforts and next year’s 4/20 rally…
With so many Colorado cities and counties banning medical marijuana dispensaries on election day, many MMJ patients across the states will be put in the position of growing their own cannabis. But how to start? A home grower named Cranman has written Beginner’s MMJ Indoor Soil Grow Guide, which he’s…
From the outside, and even once you walk in, not much appears to have changed at The Releaf Center since our Mae Coleman first visited back in September of 2009. The bars on the front windows are gone, but they still have ample floor space, a dance-studio mirrored wall in…
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s rejection of nearly 2,000 medical marijuana patients’ licenses prompted talk of potential lawsuits from MMJ advocacy groups. But the dynamic changed at yesterday’s meeting of the CDPHE’s medical marijuana advisory committee, when the department temporarily backed off its earlier pronouncement…
Medical marijuana in Colorado has generated plenty of lawsuits, with more legal action possible in a health department case involving limits on doctors who can recommend MMJ. But the Department of Revenue, which is in charge of writing the rules for two new medical marijuana laws hadn’t been targeted until…
