Colorado lawmakers pass bill adding PTSD to MMJ conditions list

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The Colorado Legislature has approved a bill that would add post-traumatic stress disorder to its list of medical ailments that qualify patients for medical marijuana, a move that could provide a shot in the arm to the state’s MMJ industry.

The state Senate signed off on the measure Tuesday, and the bill now heads to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has not yet indicated if he will sign it into law.


MJBizConIf Hickenlooper does sign it, the move could result in a boost in the state’s MMJ patient…

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Colorado bill would let growers reclassify rec marijuana to medical

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The Trump administration has been so ambiguous about its intentions regarding recreational cannabis that the Colorado Legislature is considering a bill to allow growers to reclassify their inventory as medical marijuana in the event of a federal crackdown.

Though the measure has yet to receive a full vote in either the state House or Senate, it has passed one Senate committee with bipartisan support, the Associated Press reported, an indication that politicians of both stripes have no desire to see Trump gut the adult-use cannabis industry.

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Denver may allow marijuana shops to stay open later

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The Denver City Council may roll back the mandatory closing time for cannabis retailers from 7 p.m. to either 10 p.m. or perhaps midnight under a proposal being considered by a special committee.

But don’t expect an imminent decision. The issue will remain unresolved for at least a few more weeks, as the council solicits additional public input.

Mandated closing times for Denver marijuana shops makes them less competitive than many other retailers that are technically located in other…

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Colorado AG invites Sessions to check out rec MJ industry

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Colorado’s top law enforcement official extended an invitation to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take a tour of the state’s recreational marijuana industry.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman made the invitation Wednesday morning during a meeting with top Justice Department staff, the Denver Post reported.


Spring 2017 MJBizConShe told them “it was important to come to the states that have legalized marijuana – particularly Colorado since we have the longest history – and to see what we have done,” according to the Post. “They…

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White House’s words won’t deter rec marijuana states

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By John Schroyer

Despite ominous overtones from the White House, the eight states that have legalized recreational cannabis are proceeding full-bore, whether it’s with existing infrastructures or plans to establish new markets.

Governors and attorneys general responded in unison: They’ll honor voters’ wishes, and conduct business as usual while awaiting specific policies.

The cannabis industry’s future was called into question Thursday when President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, said “greater enforcement” could…

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Denver MJ business owner picked for local chamber of commerce

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Jake Salazar, the founder and CEO of Colorado cannabis retail chain MMJ America, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver.

Salazar, who is of Mexican heritage, said he is “honored” to be working alongside other Hispanic business executives at the chamber and that he’ll be focusing on “fundraising and public policy” in his new role.


Spring 2017 MJBizConSalazar’s appointment is yet another sign of the growing mainstream acceptance of the cannabis trade, given that he’ll be working with other

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Colorado infused products licenses skyrocket as MJ companies diversify

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By John Schroyer

The number of licensed infused cannabis product manufacturers in Colorado has exploded in recent years, according to state records.

The surge reflects factors including Colorado’s lack of business license caps, a resulting oversupply of marijuana, and companies diversifying to boost their margins in one of the nation’s most competitive cannabis markets.

The statistics tell the story of businesses, including retailers and cultivators, branching into a new area of business to stay competitive. It’s also cheaper for these…

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Colorado marijuana retail chain gets $7.5M loan for expansion

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One of Colorado’s biggest cannabis retail chains wants to get even larger: The Green Solution, which has 13 locations across the state, revealed Tuesday it has secured a $7.5 million loan from iAnthus Capital Holdings, a cannabis-focused Canadian financing company.

The loan “will allow us to add multiple licenses and stores for the Colorado market in 2017,” The Green Solution’s co-CEO, Kyle Speidell, said in a news release. The company plans to open at least five more retail locations this year in Colorado, according to the release.


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CBD-infused beer gets go-ahead for national distribution

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Shipping across state lines? No problem, as long as you leave THC out of the equation.

A Colorado-based beer maker that produces CBD-infused brews has received the green light from the federal government to distribute its product line nationwide, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Dad and Dude’s Breweria, which is based in an eastern Denver suburb, told the news outlet that it has received permission from the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which oversees interstate beer sales. The agency still must…

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MassRoots pays off March debt of nearly $1M

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MassRoots, the publicly traded cannabis-centric social media site, said Friday it has repaid its creditors after disclosing last month it had missed nearly $1 million in payments that were due to holders of its convertible notes.

“We’re excited to have this debt fully repaid and behind us. We expect MassRoots will be cash-flow positive on a monthly basis by the end of the year,” MassRoots CEO Isaac Dietrich said in a news release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


License Directory SidebarThe Denver company said last month it had missed some…

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Poll Finds Most Coloradans Upbeat About Legal Marijuana, Few Would Support Repeal

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Poll Finds Most Coloradans Upbeat About Legal Marijuana, Few Would Support Repeal

Three out of five Colorado voters say regulating and taxing marijuana has been good for the economy, and one out of four say they have a friend, relative, or acquaintance who works for or with a regulated marijuana business

DENVER, CO — A new poll finds Colorado voters are still upbeat about their decision to regulate and tax marijuana for adult use, and few would support repealing Amendment 64, the legalization initiative approved in November 2012.

The results of the statewide survey, which was conducted earlier this month by Public Policy…

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Washington Edibles Maker Expanding to Colorado

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For a while now, the trend has been that Colorado-based edibles companies have been expanding into other states. Now, a Washington State-based one is expanding into Colorado for a change.

Db3, which produces the Zoots line of edibles, announced this week that it has partnered with the Bronnor Corporation, which will be manufacturing and distributing Zoots products in Colorado beginning the week of March 7.

Initially, Zoots will be available at two medical and recreational cannabis retailers in…

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Scalia’s Death Could Scuttle Anti-Rec Lawsuit

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Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death could have a major impact on the cannabis industry.

On Friday, the court will weigh whether or not to take up a lawsuit that aims to overturn Colorado’s landmark recreational cannabis law.

For the lawsuit to advance, at least four justices have to vote in favor of hearing the case.

No one knows how Scalia would have voted. But given his history and public comments, it’s quite possible he would have supported a move to take…

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CO Industry Group Announces New Edibles Standards

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One of Colorado’s several cannabis industry groups announced on Wednesday that its members would adhere to a new standard for edibles production and sales in an effort to make them less attractive to kids: no candies in the shape of animals or humans.

The Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, which counts among its members high-profile companies such as Cheeba Chews, Medically Correct and EdiPure, pledged not only that its edible producing members would abide by the standard, but also that…

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Colorado Cannabis Sales Near $1B in 2015

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The first state in the nation with retail adult use marijuana has set a new bar for cannabis revenue with nearly $1 billion in sales for the 2015 calendar year.

The state hit $996 million in sales last year between recreational and medical cannabis sales, according to calculations by the Denver Post. That’s an increase of nearly $300 million from 2014, the first full calendar year of rec sales in Colorado. That year, cannabis sales totaled just under $700 million.

The growth in sales signals…

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LivWell Continues Expansion Push

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By John Schroyer

One of Colorado’s biggest cannabis chains just got a little bigger.

LivWell Enlightened Health, formerly known simply as LivWell, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired two new licensed storefronts and a 22,000-square-foot cultivation site from iVita, a smaller operator that retained a single storefront in Denver. The two shops began operating as LivWell stores on Wednesday after having their front signs changed out on Tuesday.

The acquisition brings LivWell’s total…

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Oklahoma Will Pursue Colorado Rec Lawsuit

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Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt doesn’t care that the Obama administration thinks the U.S. Supreme Court should keep mum on Colorado’s recreational marijuana law. He wants the justices to rule on the matter.

Pruitt and his Nebraska counterpart filed a lawsuit a year ago alleging that Colorado’s rec law does direct harm to both their states by increasing the illegal flow of cannabis through their borders. The two asked the high court to nullify the law. Pruitt’s office said on…

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Colorado AG: Obama Rec Brief a ‘Missed Opportunity’

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The question of whether or not the Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit targeting Colorado’s landmark recreational marijuana law may be answered as soon as January.

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told the Denver Post on Thursday that she expects the nation’s highest court to decide next month whether it will take up a lawsuit by Oklahoma and Nebraska that is attempting to overturn Colorado’s rec law.

Coffman also said she was basically disappointed that the brief filed by the US…

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DOJ Urges Supreme Court to Toss Lawsuit Against CO Rec Law

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U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., has formally requested that the Supreme Court decline to hear a lawsuit that seeks to overturn Colorado’s three-year-old recreational cannabis law.

The attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the suit in December 2014, alleging that rec sales in Colorado had led to an increase in illegal trafficking through their states. They asked that the Supreme Court overturn the rec law, and argued that marijuana’s federal status as an illegal…

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Study: Marijuana Motivates Almost Half of Colorado Tourists

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It must be the marijuana.

A state tourism survey released Wednesday found that Colorado’s legalized marijuana influenced nearly half of the visitors who decide to come visit the state.

The study, commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office, found that 42% of potential visitors said marijuana was either “extremely” or “very much influential” in their decision to visit the state, while nearly 7% reported it to be “somewhat influential,” the Denver Post reported.

The 33-question…

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Denver Extends Marijuana Moratorium Until May

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Denver will extend a moratorium on new players in the city’s recreational cannabis industry until May – rather than another two years as initially proposed – to study the issue further before deciding whether to implement a longer ban.

The current moratorium that only allows existing medical marijuana businesses to get into the recreational cannabis industry is set to expire on Jan.1.

The city council had been considering extending the moratorium for another two years, but this week…

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Wholesale Cannabis Prices Sky-High in Colorado, Dampening Fears of Crash

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By John Schroyer

In early 2015, a number of Colorado’s longtime marijuana industry insiders predicted an impending price crash for wholesale cannabis.

But the crash failed to materialize this summer as feared. In fact, the opposite trend is playing out: prices have skyrocketed in recent months.

In October, the online marijuana wholesale marketplace Cannabase saw recreational product being moved for as much as $3,000 per pound at one point. That’s up from a maximum price point of $2,200…

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CO Officials Warn Against Marijuana Investment Scams

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Despite $700 million in marijuana sales last year alone, Colorado officials are warning investors to think twice before putting their money into cannabis stocks.

The reason: There’s a relatively high risk of getting sucked into a scam.

The Colorado Division of Securities has put out an alert that cautions investors against betting capital on a trio of investments it considers risky: marijuana-related companies, binary options and digital currency.

“What they all have in common is their…

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Pesticides Lead to Sixth Marijuana Product Recall in CO

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And then there were six – marijuana product recalls in Colorado tied to pesticide use, that is.

The recall number hit the half-dozen mark on Tuesday, when the Denver Department of Environmental Health announced in a press release that Lab710 Concentrates is voluntarily recalling more than 2,300 units of 23 different products.

The recall, parallel to a much larger one earlier this month in Denver, is tied to marijuana grown and sold by the chain TruCannabis, which acts as both a wholesaler…

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Combo MMJ Dispensary, Gas Station Opens in Colorado

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The marijuana retail chain Native Roots has opened the first of two shops in Colorado Springs selling both gasoline and medical cannabis.

The Gas and Grass MMJ dispensary on the east side of town is also a fully functioning gas station, where registered patients and those who don’t touch cannabis can both fill up their tanks.

Although Colorado prohibits marijuana shops from selling non-cannabis-related items (such as gas), Native Roots found a workaround for that by setting up two different…

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Denver Looks to Limit MJ Industry

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Denver, the de facto capital of the marijuana sector, may further forestall licensing for new entrants looking to get into the recreational cannabis industry.

In 2013, the Denver City Council approved a two-year moratorium preventing new players from entering the adult-use marijuana industry, in essence only allowing previously licensed medical cannabis businesses to obtain permits for retail stores, grows and infused products companies serving rec customers.

The moratorium is up for renewal…

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ASA Weighs in on Proposed Changes to Colorado Marijuana Regulations

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ASA Weighs in on Proposed Changes to Colorado Marijuana Regulations

Last week Americans for Safe Access (ASA) submitted comments to Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) on proposed regulatory changes to the state’s cannabis program.

Colorado is mulling changes in response to a number of developments, notably issues surrounding the accuracy of cannabis labeling and accidental of overexposure related to edibles. MED deserves praise for investigating emerging issues and promptly moving to address those issues while considering input in a public manner.

Colorado is an important state for medical…

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