Update: The Board of Health meeting on medical-marijuana

Update, 3:23 p.m. Joel Warner here, back from the kerfuffle emergency Board of Health hearing. To make a long story short, the board voted 9-0 this morning to strike language stating that a marijuana caregiver has to have “significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient.” This summer, the…

Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert launches petition targeting drug czar

SAFER’s Mason Tvert thinks drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has some splainin’ to do.The Obama administration’s relaxed rules regarding enforcement of laws regarding medical marijuana has led to renewed optimism among weed advocates that across-the-boards legalization might be a more realistic possibility. But shortly thereafter, Office of National Drug Control Policy…

Mile Highs and Lows: Cannabis Medical

This dispensary has closed. As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword will be offering a no-holds-barred…

John Suthers buzzing on Stacy Clendenin medical-marijuana ruling

In September, Joel Warner wrote a blog entitled “Could Clendenin Case Deal a Blow to Colorado’s Pot Biz?” Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who’s been trying to put the medical-marijuana genie back in the bottle, certainly hopes so. No wonder he’s high on a ruling just handed down by the…

The new pot biz: Marijuana institutes

The explosive growth of Colorado’s marijuana dispensary scene is sooo September 2009. The next big thing, it turns out, is marijuana institutes — organizations designed to help folks makes heads or tails of the heady medical marijuana scene. The development is a no-brainer. The state’s medical marijuana law is so…

Can municipalities get away with regulating medical marijuana?

With the Justice Department’s announcement last week that it won’t be prosecuting medical marijuana cases in states where the practice is legal, the feds loudly and officially passed the buck on the subject. That leaves it up to medical-marijuana states and their municipalities to determine just how to handle all…

Mile Highs and Lows: Herbal Wellness

This dispensary has closed. As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword will be offering a no-holds-barred…

Did Fort Collins raid target medical-marijuana?

View Larger MapWith Colorado Attorney General John Suthers equating the proliferation of medical-marijuana facilities with crime, and other law-enforcers publicly suggesting that dispensaries are selling pot obtained from Mexican drug cartels, the pro-weed crowd has feared a crackdown on growing operations — and a raid earlier this week at 2206…

Tips for dispensary goers who want to “shop local”

Where’s it all coming from? That’s the big question about Colorado’s booming medical-marijuana scene. With all these new dispensaries opening up, people want to know where, exactly, the product for sale originated. According to drug-enforcement officials quoted today in the Denver Post,, some of it may be coming from international…

Medical-marijuana advocates fight Mexican drug cartel reports with the Always Buy Colorado Cannabis pledge

Opponents of medical-marijuana laws like Colorado Attorney General John Suthers are increasingly playing the crime card — implying that the proliferation of dispensaries in Colorado is fueling illegal and increasingly dangerous behavior (without, of course, providing specific examples of the phenomenon). Today’s Denver Post adds a chorus to this tune…

Honey, I bought a pot house

At first, the three-bedroom ranch Mike and his family discovered while house-hunting in Thornton this summer seemed like the perfect spot. The price was right on the 2,200 square foot home, and it was situated in a nice neighborhood. After they put down an offer, the family nearly backed out…

Our updated medical-marijuana directory

We’ve updated our directory of medical-marijuana dispensaries in Colorado — the most extensive you’ll find anywhere — and assembled the information in a new format that makes it easier to use than ever before. To check it out, click here…