Pubdate: Wed, 29 Apr 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford
Column: CannaBiz

DISPENSARY WINS AT CANNABIS CUP DAYS AFTER OPENING, AND MORE

Their Cup runneth over

A few years ago, the thought of winning at High Times' U.S. Cannabis 
Cup was just a dream for Ryan Moore and his six partners. Most of 
them were living in Kentucky, and were nowhere near running a 
dispensary in Colorado Springs.

However, they recently became the proud owners of a first-place 
finish in the U.S. Indica Flower category for their Granddaddy Purple 
strain, just four days after their center, Herbal Healing (597-0776, 
herbalhealingmmj.com), opened at 1785 N. Academy Blvd., #165.

"We all pretty much worked on our own dime," says Moore, 25. "We're 
not getting paid, just kind of creating the dream. We pretty much 
created this whole thing with our own hands, all the way from 
construction to growing to everything. Every little last bit of it.

"It's been pretty tough times. When you work for free for a while it 
gets tough, and financially it gets tough, and we're all living under 
the same roof trying to make ends meet."

Despite that, they bet on the contest's $1,000 entry fee, and came 
out winners for their Purp, which, like all of Herbal Healing's 
plants, was hand-trimmed and exhaustively flushed. "It's hysterical: 
It really, really makes you laugh like crazy," Moore says of the 
strain's impact. "I don't even understand. ... This has its own 
special, euphoric way. ... If you take it during the middle of the 
day, it's not just going to make you go to sleep. It's going to be a 
nice mellow, smooth effect."

The owner estimates the center has around two pounds of the winning 
strain remaining, and plans to sell it for around $250 per ounce.

As far as Colorado Springs' MMJ center scene as a whole, Moore has 
not been impressed. "There's a few strains in a few places that have 
good quality, but no place has quality across the board. It's all too 
commercialized, it's all too Big Industry. There's not enough of the 
small-time people that really, really care about it. Everybody's 
thinking about production costs and how to lower them, and all it 
does is lower the quality all the way across the board."

Keef crumbs

Mayoral candidate Mary Lou Makepeace has issued a statement in 
support of allowing recreational-marijuana stores in Colorado Springs.

The city has unveiled an informational cannabis website at 
coloradosprings.gov/marijuana.

Last week, Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, announced she will depart in May. She's faced 
criticism related to Colombian sex parties involving DEA agents, but 
is best known in these parts for her hostility toward marijuana. She 
gained notoriety in 2012 for a Q&A session with U.S. Rep. Jared 
Polis, who kept asking whether drugs like heroin or meth were worse 
for your health than cannabis. "All illegal drugs are bad," she responded.
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