Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jan 2014
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2014 Village Voice Media
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

IS ALL POT TOUCHED BY PATIENTS CONSIDERED MEDICAL?

Dear Stoner: It's legal to grow up to six plants and gift an ounce of
herb to anyone 21 and up, and it's legal to buy it in a store. But is
it illegal for patients to share product given to them or purchased
from a store? Once a product touches the hands of a patient, does it
become de facto medical?

WSP Brad

Dear Brad: The answer really comes down to semantics - and whether or
not you're a stickler for the rules. Under the law, it is illegal to
share medicine purchased from a medical marijuana facility or given
to you by your caregiver with anyone else - including other medical
marijuana patients.

But being a patient doesn't automatically make pot medical. If herb
was gifted to a medical patient by a non-medical grower and used
recreationally, then it would be recreational pot, and that would be
legal. But if the patient used the pot medically, then it might be in
some strange legal gray area and not be legally shareable. But that
sounds more like an excuse you give friends who are out of pot than an
actual crime that would be prosecuted by even the most conservative of
Colorado courts.

Stoner: What is up with these recreational pot prices? Did we
time-warp back to the '90s?

Five and Dimed

Dear Dimed: There's plenty of justification coming from dispensary
owners for this. They have to pay off licensing, try to combat people
shipping herb out of state, cover for the excise tax levied on them,
and whatever else they can come up with. But anyone who sold a little
pot in college can figure out that selling $50 eighths of herb a
quarter-ounce at a time quickly pays off the $450 tax on a $3,000
pound of pot. The 18 percent sales taxes forced on consumers in
cities like Denver doesn't do much to placate people, either.

Another claim from some owners is that they're matching out-of-state
prices. Some have even said that they're gearing their operations more
toward tourists than local consumers. But out-of-state voters didn't
approve Amendment 64, and tourism alone won't sustain this industry.
Prices will drop sooner rather than later, or the black market that
the industry says it's trying to prevent out of state is simply going
to thrive in-state - and put the retail shops out of business.
Thankfully, we're already seeing some price wars, with shops selling
$35 to $40 eighths. We even talked to one that plans to keep its
prices at $25 an eighth and $200 an ounce when it goes recreational -
which could really shake things up.

That, or everyone will just start growing their own - which we highly
suggest anyway.
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MAP posted-by: Matt