Pubdate: Mon, 18 Feb 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

Amendment 64

"GIFTS" OF POT TESTING LIMITS

Bold offers to swap marijuana for a donation spring up, but it's not 
clear if they're legal.

His store's location stinks, the owner of the head shop admits.

It's in a nondescript building on an out-of-the-way road below the 
Colfax Avenue viaduct across from Sports Authority Field at Mile 
High. Unless you're trying to find Broncos parking, you might never 
even know there's a there there for a store to be.

So, to bring feet to his street, the owner of 4 Strains Pipe and 
Tobacco-which sells supplies for smoking this, that and what have 
you-came up with this marijuana-tinged ad on Craigslist: "CO 
AMENDMENT 64 COMPLIANT. 21 AND UP GET YOUR 2 GRAMS OF BUD FREE WITH 
$30 OR MORE PURCHASE IN OUR HEAD SHOP.

THIS IS FREE AS A GIFT. ONE GIFT PER DAY PER PERSON. NO JOKE." In 
post-marijuana-legalization Colorado, the pitch is bold. It's 
creative. But is it legal? It depends on the definition of 
"remuneration." "It's a tricky issue," says Christian Sederberg, an 
attorney who helped write Amendment 64, which legalized limited 
possession and-eventually, but not yet - retail sales of marijuana in Colorado.

Since Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 in November, dozens of 
offers for "free" marijuana have sprung up on the frontier between 
legal and illegal.

Craigslist is home to numerous ads offering free marijuana for a 
donation. Backpage, another ad site, has more.

Each ad has essentially the same hook: It's not the pot you're paying 
for. "i can gift my smoke to others and am taking donations for 
power/rent," one ad states.

Amendment 64 allows adults to give one another up to an ounce of 
marijuana, provided it is done "without remuneration." What exactly 
that means, though, is still being worked out by lawmakers, 
regulators and a task force appointed to suggest rules for legal 
marijuana in the state.

Ro Silva, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Revenue, which 
will eventually oversee recreational marijuana businesses, said the 
state currently doesn't have any rules on when an exchange of 
marijuana and money is a sale and when it's something else.

The owner of 4 Strains - who asked to be identified only as Mike P. 
because he is worried about robbers coming to his home-said he 
consulted with a lawyer prior to posting his ad and is doing 
everything in good faith with the law.

"The marijuana is not for sale," he said. "You're actually purchasing 
smoking accessories, tobacco, T-shirts, fine art. As a gift for them 
patronizing our store, we're giving them 2 grams of marijuana for 
free. ... It's just an incentive."

Sederberg, though, said the position is a risky one and that police 
and the courts could see it differently.

"The concept of remuneration has not been clearly established," he said.

Colorado Springs police this month arrested three men allegedly 
behind a marijuana for-donation delivery service. Billygoatgreen MMJ 
advertised on Facebook and Craigslist and offered to give pot for 
free while soliciting "suggested donation[s] towards researching 
[marijuana] and improving our cultivation operation," according to an 
e-mail the service's owners wrote to the Colorado Springs Independent.

According to court documents, when an undercover officer set up two 
separate deliveries to hotel rooms, the deliveryman handed over more 
than an ounce each time- albeit split into plastic baggies each 
holding less than an ounce. The court documents don't mention 
anything about the money that the officer gave the deliveryman being 
called a donation.

Pritchard Garrett, Shilo Campbell and Matthew Alther were arrested on 
suspicion of felony marijuana distribution in connection with the 
Billygoatgreen case. They could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, counter-ads have popped up on Craigslist, warning would-be 
marijuana providers that the cops might be watching.

Sederberg said the frontier era of Colorado marijuana law will likely 
civilize quickly. Regulations are coming. Court rulings will help 
clarify things. It may be only a matter of time until remuneration 
comes to include donation.

"The bigger point," he said, "is we need to get the regulated 
marketplace in place as soon as possible.

"Ultimately, I think a lot of this is going to go away."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom