Denver officials are scrambling to fix zoning-code loopholes that could let dispensaries open up shop in previously closed-off parts of town. The city has spent years crafting a new-and-improved version of the zoning code, the blueprint that will guide Denver’s future growth and development after it heads to Denver City…
Exactly six people and a chihuahua showed up at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment this afternoon to protest what they say is an extraordinary wait time to receive their medical marijuana cards. Some patients are waiting so long for their applications to be processed, the protesters said,…
Colorado Springs dispensary owner Drew Milburn, a veteran, doesn’t like the state health department’s opposition to using medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder — and he’s not alone. Team 420 has scheduled a protest against the department at noon today (get info below) — and Sensible Colorado is in…
The prospect of an initiative that could ban dispensaries in Colorado Springs frustrates We Grow Colorado’s Drew Milburn. After all, he views his business as a public service — one that can benefit fellow military veterans like him. He’s especially eager to reach those who suffer from post traumatic stress…
The passage of medical marijuana laws HB 1284 and SB 109 has hardly ended disputes among small-time growers and the police about what’s legal and what’s over the line. The case of Ann Marie Miller, who’s facing felony cultivation charges based on a plant count that she says includes dead…
Our latest medical marijuana dispensary review comes courtesy of The Wildflower Seed, who takes a trip to Dacono’s Green Door Wellness Center. But if that’s an inconvenient location (which it will be for most of you), we can direct you to plenty of alternatives in our newly updated dispensary directory…
This dispensary has closed. In “Mile Highs and Lows,” Westword offers no-holds-barred looks at what goes on behind the locked doors of marijuana dispensaries, whether they resemble swanky bars, sterile dentists offices or a dope dealer’s college dorm room. This week, the Wildflower Seed reviews Green Door Wellness Center:…
Does Colorado Springs’ conservatism stop at the bong? That’s the view of some participants in the community’s medical marijuana scene thanks to moves by the Springs city council to regulate, not crush, the industry. Nonetheless, there’s a citizen-led move afoot to put a wholesale dispensary ban on the November ballot…
How to liven up a boring city council meeting? Get one of the councilmen to throw an elbow to the face of a medical marijuana patient who’s just called him a son of a bitch. That’s apparently what happened at the Fountain City Council meeting last night in an altercation…
Last month, attorney Jessica Corry noted that attorneys were already preparing lawsuits targeting HB 1284, the bill designed to regulate the medical marijuana industry. Now that Governor Bill Ritter has signed the measure, how quickly will we see litigation? Not imminently, Corry reveals — but at least a couple of…
In Boulder County, commissioners have placed a number of restrictions on where medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations can locate, limiting them mainly to retail or industrial areas, of which there aren’t many in unincorporated areas. Commissioner Ben Pearlman sees the unanimous action as a way to comply with the…
With all the media attention being devoted to medical marijuana these days, it’s surprising that a Colorado Court of Appeals decision last week that medical marijuana use doesn’t necessarily constitute child endangerment failed to capture more headlines. After all, the ruling could have a major impact on medical marijuana users…
Yesterday, with as little fanfare as possible, Governor Bill Ritter signed two bills, HB 1284 and SB 109, designed to regulate Colorado’s medical marijuana industry. MMJ advocates like Matt Brown hail the legislation. But Sensible Colorado’s Brian Vicente sees them as flawed landmarks that will likely doom 40 percent of…
Governor Bill Ritter has finally signed HB 1284 and SB 109, the two medical marijuana bills that wended their way through the Colorado legislature this year. How did this former district attorney explain his reasons for backing legislation that many law-enforcement officials around the state absolutely loathe? By arguing that…
This week’s medical marijuana dispensary review — William Breathes’ critique of Arvada’s Special Kinds — will take you on a trip to the days when purchasing brick weed from a stranger’s house was the only game in town. But today, there are options aplenty, and our newly updated dispensary directory…
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 is offering a no-holds-barred look…
The court case People v. Clendenin has already proved troublesome to Colorado’s medical marijuana community — and those problems could soon start growing again. Last October, the Court of Appeals upheld the drug conviction of Longmont resident Stacy Clendenin even though she argued she was a medical marijuana caregiver. Rob…
Last month, Greenway University CEO and founder Gus Escamilla was frustrated. He was ready to build the “premier worldwide medical marijuana training facility,” but he couldn’t find a landlord willing to work with him. But those problems are over. According to Escamilla, Greenway’s finally got a home — and it’s…
When Ken Gorman, Denver’s loudest pot advocate, was shot and killed in February 2007 (a story told in the Westword feature “High Times”), the pool of suspects seemed endless. But one rumor topped all other conjecture. Thomas Lawrence, Gorman’s former business partner, was somehow involved in the murder. But Lawrence…
It’s not often that a representative of NORML salutes beer. But that’s precisely what executive director Allen St. Pierre does, sort of, in a piece celebrating Denver’s own Wynkoop Brewery for an ad that makes the watering hole seem like a medical marijuana center via a very green advertisement boasting…
Marijuana advocate Mason Tvert was pleased that a Saturday protest at Town Center of Aurora over the mall’s banning of John Gailey over a “Yes We Cannabis” T-shirt was harassment-free. Jessica Corry, Gailey’s co-counsel, agrees that the mall’s response represented “a step in the right direction.” But she stresses that…
On Friday, SAFER’s Mason Tvert announced that he would lead a march at Town Center of Aurora to protest the treatment of John Gailey a week earlier. Back then, Gailey was cited for trespassing and banned from the mall for a year because he wore a “Yes We Cannabis” T-shirt,…
