Pubdate: Thu, 10 Sep 2015
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Note: Westword Staff

THE STONER ASKS

Colorado's About to Celebrate a Pot-Tax Holiday. Is It Time to Break 
Out the Cheetos and Goldfish?

On September 16, and September 16 alone, the state will not collect 
the 15 percent retail marijuana excise tax - a tax holiday that could 
reduce state revenues by as much as $3.7 million, but greatly 
increase the happiness of Colorado's cannabis consumers. When 
Amendment 64 passed, Governor John Hickenlooper cautioned people not 
to "break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly." Now, nearly three 
years later, is the time finally right? To find out, the Stoner sat 
down with Governor Hickenlooper and Andrew Freedman, his director of 
marijuana coordination, to talk about the state of cannabis in Colorado.

Governor John Hickenlooper: We figured we needed a celebration - just 
kidding. The tax on recreational marijuana will go off for a day 
because the language of the constitutional amendment tied to TABOR 
calls for a second reauthorization.... I don't think anyone outside 
of four people understands this.

Andrew Freedman: The tax has to turn off because we [the state's Blue 
Book] underestimated our non-marijuana tax revenue.

Hickenlooper: It's just good enough to be bad.

You initially opposed Amendment 64, and right after its passage 
warned that it wasn't time to break out the Cheetos and Goldfish. Is 
it time now?

Hickenlooper: I think a lot of us looked at it back then as a very 
steep hill to climb to create a regulatory framework that would 
simultaneously protect kids, make sure driving while impaired didn't 
increase, maintain our level of public safety, and also eventually 
exterminate the black market. All worthy goals - but trying to create 
a regulatory system when you're in conflict with federal laws isn't 
easy. It's no fun. Banking, for example. We're unable to find any 
avenue into banking. No checks, safety deposits, charge cards - 
anything that makes it easier to regulate an industry. An all-cash 
industry is an invitation to corruption.

How often do other politicians ask you about marijuana?

Hickenlooper: It's the first thing they ask: How is "it" going? How 
are you dealing with edibles? Are you letting them have marijuana 
candy? Are you keeping that out of the hands of kids? We've gone a 
long way in building up the system. We've put more muscle on the 
skeleton than most of us thought we could do this quickly. Ramp-up 
speeds have been very fast.

What advice do you give those politicians? And how has it changed 
since Amendment 64 was approved?

Hickenlooper: I first tell them to wait, we don't understand the 
unintended consequences.... If I'd had a magic wand the day after, I 
probably would have reversed the vote. Now I look at how far we've 
come, and I think there's a real possibility that we'll have a system 
that works...if you eliminate the black market, make it harder for 
kids to get marijuana. We can put more money into education for kids.

How would you compare how Colorado has handled regulating marijuana 
to other states?

Hickenlooper: In some ways we've done better, in other ways not. With 
Washington state, there were a lot of things we've done here that 
they're envious of, and vice versa. As Louis Brandeis says, states 
are the "laboratories of democracy." States need to create their own 
systems. We're watching what Washington is doing; we try to 
harmonize. My guess is that our regulatory environments will become 
increasingly similar.

What's been the biggest challenge?

Hickenlooper: The hardest part is that you're having to negotiate 
with an industry that's being created even as it constantly evolves. 
It has its own self-interest, and the primary point isn't public 
health. They want to be safe, but they also have a business to run. 
We're moving so fast that the rate of change often builds to almost a 
necessity of conflict.

What about the recent pesticides issue in Denver?

Hickenlooper: Science is complicated in terms of different 
pesticides, how they might be taken into a plant. Complexity of plant 
growth is tied into how different chemicals might affect the health 
of a human. There's just a preliminary list. The science isn't 
perfect, but we'll get to a point where we recognize which pesticides 
we use are effective but don't pose any risk.

Freedman: We rely on the federal government. We are erring on the 
side of pesticides that are safe for consumption.

What's the one thing people outside Colorado should know about 
recreational marijuana here?

Hickenlooper: Most people who were not smoking marijuana before it 
was legalized still don't.

What's the one thing people inside Colorado should know?

Hickenlooper: Most people who were not smoking marijuana before it 
was legalized still don't.

Is how much attention marijuana gets an issue?

Hickenlooper: People read about one failure of the system - a tragic 
accident - and they don't see the context. There are tragic accidents 
every day, everywhere: accidental deaths, prescription-drug abuse - 
over 1,000 people died from that last year. No one cared, but if 
someone died from overdosing on marijuana, it's on the front page of 
the newspaper. It would serve people better to have a sense of 
proportion. The sky isn't falling. People thought it was the end of 
civilization as they know it. It wasn't: The sky is mostly still up 
there with the stars and the clouds.

The state budget is about $26 billion, and [the marijuana business] 
is $100 million this fiscal year; to date, $120 million. It's a very 
small part of our budget. In terms of a cost effort, and certainly in 
terms of prison time, it's even smaller. We're not sending people to 
prison for having marijuana now. Yet it's the first thing I'm asked 
about every time I'm out of state. We've made progress, but there's 
work to do. There's not enough study on kids and how their attidudes 
are changing toward marijuana. We've got to be able to measure that 
in our state and look at other states that haven't legalized and see 
if there's a difference.

Do you have a favorite late-night joke about Colorado and cannabis?

Hickenlooper (after some conversation around the table - there have 
been a lot of jokes): Jimmy Fallon said, "Those folks in the stoner 
state of Colorado - they're so high, they can't even spell 
Hickenlooper anymore."

Read more from Andrew Freedman below.

Andrew Freedman, director of marijuana coordination for the State of 
Colorado, shares a bunker-like space in the Colorado Department of 
Revenue building with deputy director Skyler McKinley and a couple of 
interns. Both Freedman and McKinley are Colorado natives whose jobs 
in the brave new world of legalized marijuana make them the envy of 
their friends - even if their workspace is lacking. After meeting 
with Governor Hickenlooper, the Stoner sat down in Freedman's office 
to ask some follow-up questions, starting with the fact that the 
marijuana tax holiday is a one-time fix. On the November ballot, 
Coloradans will be asked to again vote about marijuana. This time, 
Proposition AA will ask if the overall state tax-collection level can 
be increased so that Colorado can keep marijuana taxes that have 
already been collected.

The Stoner: Too much tax money for TABOR?

Andrew Freedman: It's a request to retain money we've already 
collected - $40 million for schools, for empirical programs to help 
kids.... All of this is going to be learning money for Colorado. It's 
a little bit of a nuance - not that we came in too high, but we 
collected too much from July 1, 2014, to this July. Proposition AA in 
general is going to be confusing to people.

Are counties and towns on the border more hesitant with legal 
marijuana because of neighboring states?

Freedman: There are great stories of some small towns making $100,000 
they wouldn't have had before. Others want no part of it, probably 
due to cultural differences. There's the potential to tear those 
communities apart. That's what you're seeing.

What have you been taking into consideration for fighting pesticides 
and ensuring quality control in the marijuana industry?

Freedman: The label is the law. From the beginning, from day one, if 
you're using a pesticide that is not labeled for sufficiently broad 
enough use that you could use it on marijuana - say, all indoor crops 
- - then you are breaking the law. All of that is part of the process. 
What we're trying to do is get out there and be proactive. Put money 
in as education for growers; it's really confusing both for growers 
and state government to do on their own. Most of the time the state 
agriculture department just has to look at the label, tell the USDA 
or the EPA.... Now we're learning how to do all those.

Denver Environmental Health took matters into its own hands in March 
by quarantining eleven commercial grows for pesticide use. Is the 
state taking a similar stand?

Freedman: Denver was first out of the gate to really try to do that, 
led by firefighters and others over safety issues. Again, we're 
enforcing throughout the state.

Do you have enough staff for that?

Freedman: We have the same as exist for every crop. What doesn't 
exist yet is the culture of what's right and wrong for growing. 
That's why we threw in education.

What's the biggest challenge of operating in a fish bowl with 
something new like legal marijuana?

Freedman: It's a strange combination: We are doing it for the first 
time, and people are hyper-aware of what we're doing. Part of what 
our office has discussed is, we have to be willing to make mistakes 
as long as we're working in the best interest of public health.... 
We're willing to take the brunt, mold it and remold it, even though 
the industry is up and running.

Is there anything about the industry that has surprised you?

Freedman: What's continued to surprise me is that with the industry, 
they're better self-regulators than we thought they would be. For the 
most part, the actors in this want heavy regulation; they see it as a 
way to make their industry legitimate and not go away overnight. It's 
not this typical tension of we're big, bad government.

How has your job changed as more money, buyouts and chain businesses 
come into Colorado marijuana?

Freedman: It's a pretty explicit, marketbased system here. With 
LivWell, there are fewer actors we have to deal with. But less 
competition means some people get more powerful. We've not made it 
our role to decide who are going to be the winners and losers.

How closely is your department following Denver's Limited Social 
Marijuana Consumption Initiative? Do you think other cities will 
follow suit if it passes?

Freedman: We're monitoring it very closely. Obviously, what happens 
in Denver has a large say on what happens in the rest of the state. 
Are we accidentally pushing people to edibles because there's no 
place to consume? Are we pushing people to the streets? We respect 
the people doing it, but worry about any system that allows for 
poly-drug use - a beer in one hand, joint in the other. I worry about 
establishments with underage use. I also think there seems to a 
feeling that people have a right not to be around marijuana - that 
this might force people to be around marijuana who don't want to be. 
(Editor's note: After this interview took place, proponents of the 
limited-consumption initiative withdrew it from consideration to 
redraft a measure that "reflects the interests and concerns of all 
stakeholders.")

What is the status of Oklahoma and Nebraska's lawsuit against 
Colorado for legalizing marijuana? And the lawsuit headed by Colorado 
sheriffs for violating federal law?

Freedman: With the Nebraska/Oklahoma case, we're still waiting for 
the U.S. Solicitor General. For the rest, we're all working together 
to make sure they go away.

So do you drive or fly through Nebraska?

Freedman: In fifth grade, I learned my big crush didn't like me at 
all, and I spent the next thirteen years avoiding eye contact. I fly over.

What do your peers, friends and family think about your job?

Freedman: Most of my friends are miserable lawyers. To them, I'm 
definitely winning the day. A little cousin wants to know if I can 
smoke pot every day. It's an incredibly interesting job.

What should people know about the day-today of Colorado's marijuana 
administration?

Freedman: One of the things Colorado should be really proud of is, 
everyone has gotten involved in making sure this really works. We 
meet regularly with the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police; 
they take it very seriously. We meet with parents in Smart Colorado. 
The governor's office is very proactive. The more people joining the 
conversation, the better. Sometimes we think it's silly how much 
attention it's getting, but it's helping get us through, helping to 
have an engaged electorate who're far more nuanced than we ever 
thought they'd be.

What programs has Colorado spent its pot money on so far?

Freedman: The very first thing we do: put it to regulation, make sure 
it pays its own way, the Marijuana Enforcement Division is fully 
staffed. Then we put it to public safety and youth prevention, like 
the new prevention campaign,"What's Next." There are start-up costs 
that we'd like to see go down. We'd like to put more money to 
addiction treatment in general. We would love to see that if a 
substance is ruining someone's life, we have the money to put it back on track.

How do you feel about the first 21 months of legalization?

Freedman: How's the rollout going? Much better than we anticipated, 
because of the law of unintended consequences. A year and nine months 
later, we can see that those have not been nearly as bad as we 
thought. But the other questions, about public health, are 
longer-term. If people consume marijuana, they don't drink as much; 
that's not really proven yet. And what happens to kids? How do you 
stop those '60s Big Tobacco campaigns? Every year, we'll have to ask 
ourselves, how are we doing?

Does Colorado's reputation extend further than America?

Freedman: When I first got this job, I was on vacation in Uganda. 
Someone asked where I was from, I said Colorado, and they said, "Oh, 
marijuana." I knew this was going to be a crazy job.... I think 
Colorado deserves to be branded for much more than marijuana legalization.

Do you learn anything by talking to other legalized states?

Freedman: We talk to Washington state once every month. Now Oregon is 
joining. We met with Alaska, D.C. We learn a lot of things. I do 
think Colorado went out fastest on this; we just had a more robust 
industry from day one. But then, they also turn around and say, 
'Here's what we did on edibles.'"

Can anything be done about banking, or the lack thereof, in the 
marijuana industry?

Freedman: Banking has been the most crazy and frustrating part of it. 
It's a public-safety issue, and we're trying to keep it very 
legitimate, out of the hands of organized crime. The governor points 
out how in Prohibition, it was alcohol that created Al Capone, it was 
cash. We worry about that.

Who, What, Where...

It's been more than twenty months since Colorado's first recreational 
pot shops opened their doors, and despite what the rest of the world 
may think, most of the state's towns and cities do not have pot shops 
on every corner. Amendment 64, the law allowing adult use of 
marijuana in Colorado, also allows each county and municipality to 
decide whether to let medical and recreational pot businesses operate 
within their limits, and the answer has hardly been a resounding yes. 
According to the Colorado Municipal League, almost 72 percent of 
Colorado municipalities that have addressed the issue of recreational 
marijuana had banned it as of April 2015, and nearly 15 percent 
haven't addressed the issue at all. With so much confusion about who 
can purchase what and where, Westword has compiled a list of counties 
and municipalities that allow medical and recreational marijuana - 
and the wet blankets that don't.

Creating the list was harder than you might think. Many counties have 
bans on recreational marijuana while cities inside the counties allow 
it, which means that the county ordinances for or against marijuana 
businesses only apply to the unincorporated parts of that county. For 
example, Sedgwick County prohibits all forms of marijuana businesses, 
but the town of Sedgwick doesn't, so operating a pot shop within city 
limits is legal. Some towns and counties - Arapahoe and Montrose 
counties, for instance - have bans or moratoriums on new marijuana 
business, but have allowed existing establishments to remain. Towns 
like Breckenridge, Dillon, Glenwood Springs and Pueblo all currently 
have moratoriums in place that prohibit new pot businesses from 
applying, but those moratoriums will be up within a year - unless the 
cities extend them.

Then there are those towns with industry caps, which only allow a 
certain number of pot businesses before closing the gates. (Wheat 
Ridge's limit of five dispensaries has been reached, so the city is 
no longer accepting applications, and Eagle only allows one pot shop 
per 5,000 town residents.) And some counties and cities, such as 
Gilpin County and Fort Collins, are still proponents of vertical 
integration, which means that only medical dispensaries can apply for 
a recreational license.

Many of the towns that ban recreational marijuana might be too small 
to support such dispensaries even if they were allowed. Even so, 
towns like Calhan, Ignacio, Haxton and Seibert - all with populations 
estimated to be less than 1,000 - have all taken action to prohibit 
marijuana businesses. Some small communities, however, have decided 
to allow other forms of marijuana businesses, but not dispensaries. 
And then there are still other counties and cities - most notably, 
Colorado Springs - that allow medical sales but prohibit recreational 
businesses.

Here's our current list of places where you can legally buy pot and 
places you can't; watch westword.com/marijuana for updates.

Municipalities Allowing Recreational Marijuana Sales (bolded cities 
allow sales but don't have shops yet): Alma, Aspen, Aurora, Basalt, 
Black Hawk, Boulder, Breckenridge, Carbondale, Central City, Commerce 
City, Cortez, Crested Butte, De Beque, Denver, Dillon, Durango, 
Eagle, Edgewater, Empire, Fraser, Fort Collins, Frisco, Garden City, 
Georgetown, Glendale, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison, Idaho Springs, La 
Veta, Lafayette, Leadville, Log Lane Village, Louisville, Lyons, 
Mancos, Manitou Springs, Mountain View, Nederland, Northglenn, Oak 
Creek, Pagosa Springs, Pueblo, Red Cliff, Rio, Ridgway, Rifle, 
Salida, Sedgwick, Silt, Silver Plume, Silverthorne, Silverton, 
Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Trinidad, Walsenburg, Wheat Ridge.

Municipalities Banning Recreational Sales: Akron, Alamosa, Arriba, 
Arvada, Ault, Avon, Bayfield, Bennett, Berthoud, Bethune, Brighton, 
Brookside, Broomfield, Brush, Buena Vista, Burlington, Calhan, Canon 
City, Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, 
Coal Creek, Cokedale, Colorado Springs, Columbine Valley, Craig, 
Crawford, Creede, Crestone, Cripple Creek, Dacono, Del Norte, 
Dinosaur, Dove Creek, Eads, Eaton, Eckley, Elizabeth, Englewood, 
Erie, Estes Park, Evans, Fairplay, Federal Heights, Firestone, 
Fleming, Florence, Fort Lupton, Fort Morgan, Fountain, Fowler, 
Foxfield, Frederick, Fruita, Gilcrest, Golden, Granada, Granby, Grand 
Junction, Grand Lake, Greeley, Green Mountain Falls, Greenwood 
Village, Gypsum, Haxton, Hayden (cultivation allowed), Holly, 
Holyoke, Hooper, Hot Sulphur Springs, Hotchkiss, Hudson, Hug, 
Ignacio, Illif, Jamestown, Johnstown, Julesburg, Keenesburg, Kersey, 
Kim, Kiowa, Kremmling, La Junta, La Salle, Lake City, Lakewood, 
Lamar, Larkspur, Las Animas, Limon, Littleton, Lochbuie, Lone Tree, 
Longmont (dispensaries listed in Longmont are technically in 
unincorporated Longmont County), Loveland, Mead, Meeker, Milliken, 
Minturn, Monte Vista, Montrose, Monument, Morrison, Mountain Village, 
Naturia, New Castle, Norwood, Nucla, Nunn, Olathe, Olney Springs, 
Orchard City, Ordway, Otis, Ouray, Ovid, Palisade, Palmer Lake, 
Pania, Parachute (cultivation allowed), Parker, Peetz, Pierce, Poncha 
Springs, Pritchett, Ramah, Rangley, Raymer, Rockyvale, Rocky Ford, 
Romeo, Rye, Saguache, Sanford, Seibert, Severance, Sheridan, Silver 
Cliff, Simla, Snowmass Village, South Fork, Springfield, Sterling, 
Stratton, Sugar City, Superior, Swink, Thornton, Timnath, Vail, 
Victor, Vona, Walden, Walsh, Wellington, Westcliffe, Westminster, 
Wiggins, Williamsburg, Windsor, Winter Park, Woodland Park, Wray, Yampa, Yuma.

Counties Allowing Medical Sales but Not Recreational Sales: Alamosa, 
Arapahoe, El Paso, Fremont, Teller.

Municipalities Allowing Medical Sales but Not Recreational Sales 
(bolded cities allow sales but don't have shops): Berthoud, Buena 
Vista, Canon City, Colorado Springs, Craig, Crestone, Dacono, 
Englewood, Golden, Lakewood, Littleton, Palisade, Palmer Lake.

Counties Allowing Recreational Sales: Adams, Archuleta, Boulder, 
Chaffee, Clear Creek, Costilla, Denver, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, La 
Plata, Larimer, Montrose, Ouray, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, Saguache, San 
Juan, San Miguel, Summit.

Counties Banning Recreational Sales: Alamosa, Arapahoe, Baca, Bent, 
Broomfield, Cheyenne, Conejos, Crowley, Custer, Delta, Dolores, 
Douglas, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Garfield (medical cultivation 
allowed), Gunnison County (cultivation, manufacturing and testing 
allowed), Hinsdale, Huerfano (cultivation allowed), Jackson, 
Jefferson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lake (cultivation allowed), Las Animas, 
Lincoln, Logan, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma, Morgan, Montrose, 
Otero, Phillips, Prowers, Rio Blanco, Rio Grande, Routt, Sedgwick, 
Teller, Washington, Weld, Yuma.

The Weed Whisperer

BY LINDSEY BARTLETT

It's the American Dream: Go to college, get a degree, graduate with 
honors, start selling weed.

To be fair, I was an English major, so becoming a budtender in the 
wild, wild West of Denver's marijuana industry seemed like a pretty 
reasonable gig.

I'd had my first dispensary experience several years earlier. Just as 
the green rush was beginning in 2009, I went to see a doctor in Fort 
Collins, said something along the lines of "Ouch, my back," and was 
promptly handed my temporary medical card. Stepping into an actual 
pot shop for the first time was surreal: I wanted to touch every 
beautiful jar of bud, like a nineteen-year-old kid in a candy shop. 
It was a shock to realize that I could choose what I wanted rather 
than swap money for whatever weed my dealer happened to be offering 
in the parking lot. And the helpful budtender seemed to have the 
coolest job in the world. I visited him often before graduating, 
leaving Fort Collins and moving back to my home town of Denver.

A friend got me a job with a local medical dispensary in the fall of 
2013. By then, the industry was much more regulated; many of the 
lessons the state had learned while licensing MMJ centers would be 
applied to the new recreational stores getting ready to open. I was 
assigned to a small, upstairs location in a relatively seedy part of 
central Denver; I called it "the treehouse of weed."

I would morph my sales pitch for whoever came through the door, 
whether it was a Civic Center Park dime-bag dealer who'd somehow 
gotten a card or a fifty-year-old mother of four who worked as a 
librarian. I had patients who were cancer survivors, patients with 
MS, patients with everything from inflammatory ailments to 
gastrointestinal illnesses - all of which were seriously helped by 
marijuana. I tried to cater to my regulars, and would hide special 
batches of weed in the back room for them. One patient reminded me of 
my aunt; her favorite way to ingest cannabis was with a delicious 
mint chocolate bar, so I would put a few aside for her when I knew 
she'd be coming back to re-up.

The treehouse of weed had very affordable prices for medical 
patients, but I knew that sometimes meant we were the weed dealers' 
weed dealer - that some of our patients were reselling at least a 
portion of the cannabis they bought from us. About 60 percent of our 
customers bought their "limit" every day. The lowest possible daily 
limit in Colorado is two ounces, and extended plant counts can 
elevate that to pounds per day; even the lower limits are a lot more 
more than the most seasoned smoker can possibly use.

A metal bat and a panic button were my only forms of security, 
despite the fact that I was sitting on pounds of weed and thousands 
of dollars in cash at any given time. Like many dispensaries, ours 
had a weekly deal: Wax Wednesday, which brought the grams of 
concentrates down to $20 or $25 apiece. A patient's bill when they 
bought their limit in wax might be $1,200 or $1,600 - cash only, one 
sale. I was the key holder but not a manager, so I had the cushy task 
of opening and closing the store for $10 an hour. Still, the panic 
button just collected dust under my cash register. Not because I 
necessarily felt safe, but because I usually got high before my shift 
and forgot to wear it. I would have risked less and made more if I 
were slangin' shirts at H&M, but I loved the job.

But things were changing quickly - including prices, which were going 
up, and up, for recreational sales. That was a whole different animal.

I began selling recreational cannabis on January 1, 2014, the first 
day for retail sales. The lines were long and the days were chaotic; 
I spent upwards of thirteen hours on my feet, talking nonstop. To 
save my voice, I would gather would-be customers in groups, 
explaining Colorado's rules, explaining Colorado's cannabis. There 
wasn't time to eat or use the restroom. Not all places have tip jars, 
but our store did - and we liked to see it used. I tried to provide 
as much information as I could, working off years of experience. Some 
people didn't know how to use a pipe, so I would teach them or point 
them in the direction of our pre-rolled joints and show them the best 
method for lighting one. I remember thinking, "Someone just put $100 
in my tip jar for explaining how to smoke weed." I was like the weed 
whisperer; I would hold a package up to my ear and pretend I could 
translate for it. "What's that? Oh, it says it's 80 percent indica."

One person paid me the highest possible compliment when he called me 
the "Yoda of weed." Much to learn have you.

I learned that there is no stereotypical stoner, not anymore. Just as 
MMJ patients came in all shapes and sizes, so did rec buyers - though 
they were predominantly tourists. We had a map that showed where 
customers came from, and it spanned the globe. No matter where they 
lived, though, they were all curious. Some of these buyers hadn't 
smoked weed in decades, or ever. Their minds were blown by the 
creative edibles, vape pens, concentrates and new ways to smoke pot. 
And their number-one question: Where could they smoke it?

For the most part, the customers treated me with respect, and I 
enjoyed working with them. The dispensary's owners? Not so much. With 
the money rolling in, they bought new cars, fancy clothes, Rolex 
watches and even a gold-plated conference table. They didn't share 
the wealth with their employees. And even though wages have risen 
over the past year - most budtenders start at $12 to $13 an hour, 
with managers closer to $20 - they're still low considering what a 
big cash crop pot is. But at least most stores now have security 
guards and offer employee benefits.

I didn't wait around to watch the business evolve, at least not from 
the inside. My dispensary job was like an abusive boyfriend: He was 
kinda hot at the time, but he just didn't treat me right. Still, I'm 
a romantic at heart. I love the cannabis industry, and I love the 
potential it holds for Colorado. It's a match made in heaven - or close enough.

Taking Stock

The green market is headed for the stock market. Although dispensary 
businesses are having trouble securing financial services - because 
marijuana is still illegal at the federal level - several pot-related 
Colorado companies are either currently being publicly traded... or 
soon will be. How do they manage that? It's never the 
cannabis-growing or -selling branch that goes public, but a sister 
company involved in consulting, tech or hospitality.

This month, for example, the technology sibling of popular 
family-owned dispensary Medicine Man will hit the market as Medicine 
Man Technology (MMT), a company that focuses on grow technology, 
planning and consulting - not cannabis sales. While some 
cannabisrelated companies have gone to market via a reverse merger, 
Medicine Man Tech is the first in the industry to file an S-1 
Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, 
which it did April 15. Look for MMT to begin trading as soon as 
October, at an estimated $1 a share. It's a historic move for 
Medicine Man founders Pete and Andy Williams, as well as Brett Roper, 
the man behind MMT.

But they'll find they're in good company. Here are five more 
marijuana-related Colorado businesses now trading publicly:

American Cannabis Company Inc. (AMMJ)

American Cannabis Company combines two marijuana-related practices: 
consulting, and production of items like the Cultivation Cube, a 
self-sustaining growcube invention; Sohum Living Soil; and the 
Satchel, an easy-to-use version of the kid-safe, compliance-regulated 
bag for cannabis products.

The MaryJane Group Inc. (MJMJ)

Billing itself as a canna-tourism hospitality business, the MaryJane 
Group is better known by its trademarked Bud+Breakfast hotel name. 
Founded in 2014 by Joel Schneider, the company owns and operates 
three cannabis-friendly inns, two of which are in Colorado.

Two Rivers Water & Farming Company (TURV)

Denver-based Two Rivers combines high-value fruit and vegetable 
farming and wholesale water distribution into one business.

The company, which started out in the Arkansas River basin, uses a 
form of rotational farm fallowing that's unique on the Front Range - 
and applicable to pot cultivation.

Cannabis Science Inc. (OTC:CBIS)

This Colorado Springs-based company does cannabis research, 
quantifying the effects of cannabis in its many forms. Its research 
breaking down the complexities of terpenophenolics has found more 
than 85 different types of terpenes. According to its website, 
"Cannabis Science is developing novel cannabis-based approaches to 
treat the world's most deadly illnesses."

MassRoots Inc. (OTCQB:MSRT)

MassRoots, a social network with marijuana-related mobile technology 
and a half a million users, filed its registration to go public on 
August 1."Uplisting to the NASDAQ Capital Market would be a 
significant milestone not just for MassRoots, but the cannabis 
industry as a whole," said MassRoots CEO Isaac Dietrich when that 
filing was announced. "We believe that uplisting to a national 
exchange like the NASDAQ would enable MassRoots to attract a broader 
range of institutional investors, increase share liquidity and help 
shift the paradigm about investing in the regulated marijuana market."

Find more marijuana-related stocks at 
marijuanastocks.com/content/list-marijuana-stocks.

- -BARTLETT
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom