The Ten Biggest Denver Cannabis and Psychedelics Stories of 2023

Colorado's cannabis industry got stuck in a rough patch in 2023, but the state's legal psychedelics scene is just getting going. Between both areas, though, there was plenty of Rocky Mountain high to spread around.

From swarms of grasshoppers wreaking havoc on pot farms to Colorado's first-ever legal psychedelic mushrooms grow-off, here are the ten biggest cannabis and psychedelics stories of the year in chronologic order.

Curaleaf's Colorado Exit
One of the first and largest dominoes to fall during 2023's cannabis recession was Curaleaf, with its decision to call it quits in Colorado in just over one year. The New York-based company had cannabis brands and facilities in 21 states — including nineteen dispensaries, grows and infused-product manufacturers across Colorado — before closing and liquidating assets here and in several other states early in the year. The Curaleaf closures included Los Sueños Farms, one of the biggest outdoor cannabis cultivations in North America.

Los Sueños still hasn't reopened, and Curaleaf's exit from Colorado was a sign of things to come. The state's cannabis job force declined around 30 percent from 2022 to 2023, according to a nationwide recruiting study, while Colorado Department of Revenue figures show that annual dispensary sales fell around 12 to 15 percent during the same span. More multi-state cannabis brands and small businesses have since closed in Colorado.

Colorado's First Magic Mushrooms Bill
Colorado became the second state to legalize medical psilocybin and the first to decriminalize personal use of certain psychedelics in 2022; in 2023, Colorado lawmakers passed Senate Bill 23-290, which put guidelines on the psychedelics ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters.

The ballot initiative legalized therapeutic psilocybin and decriminalized the personal cultivation, use and sharing of psilocybin mushrooms and three other natural psychedelics (DMT, ibogaine and mescaline that is not from peyote), but didn't place limits on the personal cultivation of mushrooms or suggest criminal penalties for illegal trafficking; it was also short on clinical and therapeutic psychedelic regulations. This bill addressed those issues and many others, including home cultivation rules and record-clearing of old convictions.

Some psychedelics advocates believe the law creates too many restrictions on unlicensed psychedelic facilitation and communal use, pointing specifically to language banning the public consumption of psychedelics and paying unlicensed facilitators for more than expenses. The bill was amended fourteen times, and more bills connected to psychedelics laws and regulations are expected to be introduced by lawmakers in 2024.

Adulterated Weed
Cannabis contamination from mold or illegal pesticides has been an ongoing problem since recreational pot sales began in Colorado, but now we have to worry about businesses trying to cheat testing protocols, too. Decontamination and remediation techniques for failed batches of marijuana were approved in 2021, but the process can be costly and doesn't guarantee the harvests will be salvaged. In a June 2 memo from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, state officials warned business owners of a looming public health threat caused by untested or adulterated cannabis samples.

According to the MED, some growers who know their plants will fail have been willing to falsify testing samples in order to avoid the financial hit of paying for remediation, re-testing or destroying the harvest. Although new testing, quarantine and expiration rules should give state watchdogs more authority in 2024, there have been eighteen marijuana recalls issued for mold, yeast and improper testing procedures so far this year.

Federal Rescheduling
On August 30, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created shockwaves by recommending that cannabis be lowered from a Schedule I federal substance to Schedule III. The announcement from HHS came almost a year after President Joe Biden announced that his administration would review the plant's Schedule I status and pardon low-level federal cannabis offenders. If approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration, a Schedule III label for marijuana could clear research pathways and allow business owners to apply for tax exemptions.

Four months later, the country is still waiting for a DEA response — but the cannabis industry and reform-minded lawmakers, including Governor Jared Polis and Senator John Hickenlooper, believe it's only a matter of time before the plant is rescheduled. If that happens, the impact on business activity, research and federal enforcement would be immeasurable — as would the impact on cannabis users.

Social Consumption Crackdown
Denver cracked down on cannabis-friendly events in 2023, issuing violation citations and warnings to event organizers and venues for allowing unlicensed public pot consumption.

Tetra Lounge had received tentative approval to operate as an indoor marijuana venue in 2022, but it still hasn't received an official permit. The RiNo venue has held occasional private events allowing marijuana use as it works toward city licensing approval, but that violates public consumption laws, according to the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses, which served Tetra and owner Dewayne Benjamin a general violation ticket this summer. The city has taken a similar stance with other event organizers, arguing that any pot-friendly events, public or private, must be licensed. However, cannabis hospitality entrepreneurs have been steadfast in their criticism of local ventilation and location restrictions in Denver, where just two licensed pot venues have opened since 2017.

Grasshopper Destruction
As if a tanking wholesale market weren't challenging enough, some cannabis farmers in southern and western Colorado had an even more menacing enemy this year: grasshoppers. This wasn't the first time that outdoor cannabis growers have battled bugs, but above-average rains and increased vegetation in 2023 brought "a biblical plague" to cannabis farms this summer and fall, according to Crowley County cannabis grower Jon McIntosh.

"They eat at the base of the plant. We put 1,000 plants in the ground, and within a few days there were three left," McIntosh's son, Ben, told Westword. According to Crowley County cannabis business liaison Tobe Allumbaugh, the county's outdoor cannabis output was cut in half because of grasshoppers. To fight off the pests, some growers used chicken and turkeys to patrol their cultivations.
Dinosaur's Green Rush
Colorado's cannabis money kept falling in 2023 (though $1.5 billion in annual sales is nothing to scoff at), and more states around us are legalizing the plant. But as major cities like Denver and Aurora and southern border towns such as Trinidad have been preparing for a drop-off in cannabis tax dollars, tiny little Dinosaur is becoming a giant in marijuana sales. The Western Slope town, known for its proximity to Dinosaur National Monument and a few truck stops, has around 300 residents and four pot dispensaries. According to a story by Markian Hawryluk, the town had an annual budget of around $100,000 or less before opening up for pot sales. Now Dinosaur makes that much in cannabis revenue alone — monthly. "You'd be shocked how much money comes through here," Dinosaur town treasurer Jim Evans said. "There's money running out of our ears."

Colorado's First Mushroom Cup
Big shafts and large caps were on full display during the November 2 awards show for the Psychedelic Cup, the first open psilocybin mushroom-growing competition in Colorado (and perhaps the country). Organized by the Psychedelic Club of Denver, a nonprofit educational group, the Psychedelic Cup followed the state's new psychedelics cultivation, possession and display laws, with each grower submitting their magic mushrooms to a psilocybin testing lab. According to organizers, there were 512 competition submissions from 211 different mushroom growers, creating not just a spectacle, but an opportunity to gather information.

"That was by far the biggest data collection of home growers, for sure. And, I would argue, it's a larger and more diverse data set than any other research done so far," organizer Jonathan Cherkoss said, adding that the "decriminalization part really gives us the chance to do a lot of cool stuff and not have to hide. It can be done, it can be done responsibly, and it can be done again."

Denver Mushroom Co-op
In his small studio at 800 West Eighth Avenue, Darren Lyman houses a nameless magic mushroom co-op that serves as a support center for those in need of natural medicine. After calling ahead, you can walk in, show your ID (21 and over only), then sit down for a visit. The support includes a chat about the intoxicating effects of psilocybin mushrooms; psilocybin's potential to help treat mental ailments such as anxiety, addiction, depression and traumatic stress; and your intended use for the mushrooms. That session typically costs $30. And the four grams of mushrooms? Well, those are free.

Since catching public attention, Lyman's interpretation of Colorado's new psychedelics laws has been criticized by notable psychedelics attorneys and activists, and even discussed by the Denver DA during a city psilocybin board hearing — but that hasn't stopped Lyman. He plans to continue operating, and wants to add a small commercial kitchen and cultivation area to the studio where other mushroom growers and edibles makers can operate. "It's just like how co-op cannabis dispensaries started in California in the ’90s," Lyman said. "They tell me their reasons, and I provide the support."

Dispensary Crime Bust
Facebook messages and braggadocio social media posts helped take down two separate crime rings accused of using stolen vehicles and weapons to burglarize dozens of businesses, including firearms dealers and over forty marijuana dispensaries. According to federal agencies and local law enforcement authorities in Aurora, Denver and Thornton, two investigations led to the December arrest of 23 individuals on charges ranging from aggravated robbery to kidnapping. One of the cases, dubbed Operation Say Less, resulted in the arrests of fourteen people, while an unrelated grand jury indictment charged nine others with similar crimes.

The investigations were connected to a wave of cannabis business robberies in 2022 and 2023, which resulted in the theft of an estimated $780,000 in cash, various retail merchandise and entire ATM machines.  "Obviously, it has become a lucrative endeavor, so this is really good news that we're able to break it up," Denver DA Beth McCann said after the bust. "Given what we've found through this investigation, there should be some emphasis on solving these kinds of crimes when you've got organized groups like this."