Dear Stoner: I'll be visiting Colorado this summer, and everyone is telling me I can only buy a quarter-ounce. Is that true? If so, is that for every shop, or can I buy more at another?

Dear Based: It used to be that way, but not any longer! In June, Governor John Hickenlooper signed a law bumping up the out-of-stater limit to an ounce, so you don't have to limit yourself to a quarter-ounce at each shop you visit. Not that I've met many people who go through a quarter in a day - but they're out there.

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A statewide ballot initiative aimed at Colorado's legal cannabis industry disintegrated on July 8, much to the chagrin of its proponents and relief of opponents.

Amendment 139, which would've effectively taken 80 percent of products off dispensaries' shelves, had scored approvals from the state Title Board, Colorado Supreme Court and Secretary of State's Office. But, according to backers' withdrawal announcement, the task of gathering 98,492 valid signatures by Aug. 8 became nearly impossible when, they alleged, industry-funded opposition "[bought] off signature gatherers to keep the initiative from moving forward."

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The activists aiming to implement strict THC limits on Colorado's recreational marijuana industry will withdraw the controversial Amendment 139 next week, their attorney told The Cannabist on Friday.

"139 is done," said attorney Frank McNulty, Colorado's former Speaker of the House and the lawyer representing the Healthy Colorado Coalition, made up of citizens pushing for tighter controls on the cannabis industry. "This is something I spent a great deal of time on in my last two years in the legislature, and my interest in protecting our state and our kids hasn't waned since then.

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Latest Innovation From Weed Growers Is More Partnership Than Endorsement Deal.

Pot is going the way of sneakers and snowboards.

As cannabis fights for a foothold in the U.S. economy, innovative weed growers are taking cues from a variety of industries - footwear, musical instruments, skis and snowboards, for example - and working with superstar musicians to develop signature marijuana strains, pro-model cannabis that sails off the shelves.

Colorado's growers - captains of the state's maturing cannabis scene - - are leading the charge in this next stage of marijuana marketing that's more partnership than endorsement deal.

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Marijuana is legal in Denver and Boulder. As you drive around Boulder, you will notice that the marijuana stores are low-key - almost invisible. Driving through Denver, the marijuana stores are quite glaring. To me, the visible marketing cheapens the look of Denver.

I suggest that Denver politicians can learn something from Boulder. Boulder's zoning laws tightly regulate marijuana marketing. I think that really helps Boulder's image.

Should low-key visual marketing be considered in Denver, the marijuana stores will complain about how much money they've invested in signage. I suggest the Denver City Council give them four years to recoup the investment, then make the stores take down the signs.

Denver can do better!

Robert L. Poley,

Boulder

[end]

Dueling Petitions Would Allow for Social Use of Pot

Denver voters could have their pick in November between two initiatives aimed at allowing social use of marijuana in different places.

One group has been gathering signatures for an initiative that would allow private marijuana consumption clubs. The other has a more expansive aim: to allow nearly any business, including a bar, to offer a set-off, 21-and-over public "consumption area," so long as the owner obtains a neighborhood group's support first.

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Dear Stoner: My friend said his landlord has been giving him shit for smoking pot. WTF? It's legal!

Deb

Dear Deb: It sure is, but that doesn't protect renters who smoke pot in a house owned by someone else. It's not uncommon to see no-smoking stipulations in leases, and they aren't limited to just tobacco (though few are crafty enough to specify vaporizers or smoking in the back yard). Unless your friend's landlord is persistent and lives close enough to spy, smoking pot there isn't much different than smoking pot was in any rental house three and a half years ago, when it was still illegal.

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When I came to Denver three years ago, I was a bit shocked at the condition of the streets. Oh well, I thought, money must be tight here. But then marijuana legalization happened and I read about the avalanche of money it created. Do the pot users and wide-eyed would-be millionaire entrepreneurs not use the roads? One would think some of this newfound source of tax money could be used to repair at least the worst of them. No?

Jeff Costello,

Denver

[end]

Crouse worries new local law will lead to another years-long legal battle.

Bob Crouse didn't think he'd still be fighting. Standing outside the City Administration Building downtown with a cardboard sign and a cadre of medical marijuana supporters on Wednesday, June 29, he remembers this exact day four years ago. It was 4:20 p.m., he says, that a jury decided he was not guilty on charges of felony possession with intent to distribute.

That moment of elation contrasted the nightmarish events leading up to it. Diagnosed with leukemia in 2007, Crouse says his prospects looked grim until he started medicating with homemade "phoenix tears" - - a concentrated oil extracted from cannabis flower. That regimen started killing his cancer cells, but in May 2011, local police cut down and confiscated his 55 marijuana plants and pounds of processed flower. After being acquitted, he sued to get his medicine back - some $300,000 worth - plants that ultimately were returned dead and unusable.

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Colorado's Health Department has $ 2.4 million to put toward studies about marijuana use, and now it is looking for researchers to help spend it.

The department this week began accepting grant applications for its Retail Marijuana Health Monitoring Program. The department already has a historic research program to fund studies on medical marijuana. The new grants, funded by the legislature this spring, will go toward studies about the health effects of marijuana use more generally across the state post-legalization. Money for the grants comes from marijuana taxes.

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"Denver mayor says violence won't be tolerated on 16th Street Mall," June 30 news story ( online only).

Let's just assume what DenverMayorMichael Hancock is saying is true- that marijuana is ruining the 16th Street Mall, which most people would find preposterous.

Where has his leadership been as he's seen the mall's safety deteriorating?

The 16th Street Mall is the most visited place in Denver and has deserved more police protection since long before marijuana was legalized.

It's time for city leaders to have the appropriate amount of police officers for the whole city.

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With California poised to vote on marijuana legalization in November, some may be asking, "What effect would it have on our youths?"

If Colorado is any measure, youth use may not rise. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment surveyed teens about marijuana habits and found that marijuana use has decreased 5 percentage points since 2009. Then, 43 percent said they had used marijuana, while now that number is at 38 percent.

Colorado's voters legalized marijuana for adults with a ballot measure in 2012.

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Dear Stoner: I really want to try my hand at growing my own, but I live across the street from an elementary school. What am I supposed to? Jamey

Dear Jamey: Once cultivating marijuana became legal under the Colorado Constitution in 2012, you've been allowed to grow marijuana in your home no matter where you live - as long as you're the homeowner or have permission from the homeowner. Think of it this way: Can a homeowner brew beer on his/her property if it's near a school? The answer is yes, so what makes growing recreational marijuana any different - other than years of uneducated prohibition?

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At around 5 p.m. on Monday, June 20, a medical marijuana center on the north side of Colorado Springs was the target of an armed robbery. According to the police blotter, "a male with a light complexion wearing dark clothes" entered the business, weapon in hand, demanding cash. He made away with an undisclosed amount of money and merchandise.

Lt. Timothy Stankey, police department spokesman, says that because the suspect is still at-large and an investigation is just getting underway, the full case report is unavailable.

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Backers say smokers need "place to go"; foes foresee "wrong message"

Legal marijuana is giving Colorado a stinky conundrum. Visitors can buy the drug, but they can't use it in public. Or in a rental car. Or in most hotel rooms.

The result is something marijuana advocates and opponents feared - people toking up on sidewalks, in city parks, and in alleys behind bars and restaurants - despite laws against doing so. And they're getting dinged with public marijuana consumption tickets.

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When Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2012, opponents of the new law warned that more teenagers would start using the drug.

But teen use of marijuana has held steady, according to a new survey of nearly 17,000 high school and middle school students by the state Department of Public Health and Environment.

The study, released this week, also found that "Colorado does not significantly differ from the national average in lifetime or current marijuana use."

Colorado, which has some of the most liberal marijuana laws in the country, is something of a test case for legalization, as 25 states now allow medical or recreational use of the drug to varying degrees. Legalization advocates have seized on the findings to bolster their position.

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DENVER (AP) - Marijuana use among Colorado high-schoolers has not increased since legalization, the state Health Department reported Monday in a new batch of youth survey results.

The 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado survey of about 17,000 middle and high school students across the state showed that 21.2 percent of high school students reported that they currently use pot. That's just a hair below the national average, which was 21.7 percent.

Since voters approved recreational marijuana use for those 21 and older in 2012, Colorado has worked to keep youths off of pot. Campaigns have said the drug will keep them from achieving their full potential and reminded them their brains aren't fully developed until they reach 25.

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In a recent Associated Press article "Colorado: Youth pot use hasn't gone up since legalization" the main idea was that overall in Colorado marijuana use among high schoolers has remained stagnant at 21 percent, just below the national average of 22 percent. The Pueblo for Positive Impact group found the rate in Pueblo is much higher at 30.1 percent among high schoolers and decided to post several posts to its Facebook page, emphasizing this huge difference.

The rate in Pueblo is the highest in the state and was for the past survey as well. I have recently been blocked by the group for posing links to the past survey showing Pueblo use is actually declining since dispensaries were opened in the state.

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DENVER (AP) - Legal marijuana is giving Colorado a stinky conundrum. Visitors can buy the drug, but they can't use it in public. Or in a rental car. Or in most hotel rooms.

The result is something marijuana advocates and opponents alike feared - people toking up on sidewalks, in city parks and in alleys behind bars and restaurants - despite laws against doing so. And they're getting dinged with tickets.

From Denver to mountain resorts like Aspen and Breckenridge, police wrote nearly 800 citations for the new crime of public consumption in 2014, the first year recreational sales began.

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The biggest single risk in legalizing marijuana in 2012 - with no other issue even close - was the effect it might have on adolescents.

Would usage skyrocket among this group? Teens who use drugs are more likely than adults to end up dependent on them and to suffer other long-term consequences, such as academic failure. If it can be shown for sure that legalization pushes more kids into pot use, most arguments on behalf of legal pot would be overwhelmed.

That's why the recent data from the state's Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which shows marijuana use among high school students has not increased and is roughly the same as the national average, is so heartening. Even the most ardent opponents of legalization ought to pleased, since the prospect of repealing Amendment 64 in the near future is approximately zero. We're going to be living with the consequences of legalization for the time being, both good and bad.

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