As we look back on a decade since Colorado’s landmark vote on legalized cannabis, we assess how arguments from both sides of the debate have borne out
legal marijuana
Posted inMarijuana
Did marijuana legalization lead to increased use in Colorado? A new study has a novel answer.
The study, by a former University of Colorado graduate student, looked at data on twins to answer a longstanding question
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: After 20 years, it’s clear that marijuana is not ‘medicine’
In 2000, Colorado bought a pig in a poke. We truly didn’t know what we were getting. Can we finally admit it? It may have seemed like a good thing in 2000. We voted to legalize the use of marijuana for certain medical conditions that were known to be accompanied by chronic pain, nausea and […]
Posted inMarijuana
New Mexico marijuana legalization poses a serious threat to Colorado’s lucrative border-town pot shops
TRINIDAD —When Colorado legalized the retail sale of marijuana in 2012, savvy entrepreneurs saw an opportunity beyond setting up shop in population centers like Denver and Boulder. They realized if they opened cannabis businesses in small towns along the state’s borders, they could attract customers from Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, where […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
$10 billion in recreational marijuana has now been sold in Colorado, fueled by strong 2020 sales
Colorado retailers have sold $10 billion in marijuana since recreational pot started being sold in 2014, according to new monthly figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Revenue. Total 2020 sales hit $2.19 billion, up sharply from $1.75 billion in all of 2019, according to the state. Sales in December alone were $186.34 million. […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s top federal prosecutor says banks working with marijuana industry have “no carve out” from prosecutions
Colorado’s top federal prosecutor says that he would never tell banks working with legal marijuana businesses in the state that they are devoid of criminal liability. “As federal prosecutors,” Jason Dunn told The Colorado Sun on Tuesday, “we will never tell them that what they are doing is lawful under federal law. There’s always a […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Education, News
Colorado teens are switching from smoking marijuana to eating it, study shows
By Kathleen Foody, The Associated Press Some teenagers in Colorado, where marijuana is legal for adults, are shifting away from smoking in favor of edible cannabis products, a study released Monday shows. About 78% of the Colorado high school students who reported consuming marijuana in 2017 said they usually smoked it, down from 87% two […]
Posted inBusiness, News
Where does Colorado’s marijuana tax money go? The state made a flow chart to answer the $1 billion question
Marijuana sales tax collection since recreational sales began in 2014 in May surpassed $1 billion, Colorado officials said Wednesday. That’s a major milestone for a burgeoning industry, which has sold more than $6.5 billion in that time period. Colorado now has almost 3,000 licensed marijuana businesses and more than 40,000 people who are licensed to […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Authorities raid 247 Colorado homes, seize more than 80,000 marijuana plants in years-long operation targeting black market pot
By Dan Elliott, The Associated Press Authorities said Friday they raided hundreds of black market marijuana operations in Colorado that flouted the state’s cannabis law by growing tens of thousands of plants in Denver-area homes and selling the drugs out of state. The case is the largest involving black market marijuana in Colorado history, the […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Did the Colorado Supreme Court just throw the state’s marijuana-legalization regime into question? The chief justice seems to think so.
Colorado’s Supreme Court on Monday sidelined state police dogs trained to sniff for marijuana — the necessary consequence of marijuana no longer being entirely illegal, a slim majority of the court reasoned. But, writing an unusually fiery dissent, the court’s chief justice said his colleagues may have also opened the door to deeper questions about […]