Colorado

Trump-appointed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced this week that he will deny all requests to license pesticides specifically created for cannabis, creating yet another hurdle for the nation’s legally grey cannabis industry. Last month, California, Washington, Nevada, and Vermont applied to register four new pesticides created for cannabis crops by General Hydroponics, a subsidiary of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. In a letter to the four states attempting to register these new pesticides, Pruitt said that he denied these requests because marijuana is still a federally prohibited drug. This signifies a major change in direction from the Obama administration, when former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy allowed states to take the lead in regulating cannabis pesticides. Still, the EPA’s recent pot denial should …

Colorado officials have come forward to reveal more details over the secret marijuana enforcement meetings held over the past few days between local, state and federal officials. Earlier this week, KKTV 11 News and the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the Department of Justice, the DEA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) were meeting with Colorado officials to discuss “sensitive investigative information” pertaining marijuana. Although Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, who attended one of the meetings, eventually said that “most of the discussion centered around the huge black market that exists for marijuana in Colorado,” there was some speculation that these little governmental pow-wows actually centered on the highly publicized, yet still unconfirmed, federal pot …

Officials from the Department of Justice, the White House Office of National Drug Policy and the DEA held a secret meeting on Wednesday with Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, members of the Colorado Springs Police Department, and the resident agent with the DEA, KKTV-11 reports. A local physician and a school district’s disciplinary director were also invited to the meeting. “The meetings are not open to the public because they include sensitive investigative information,” Suthers said in a statement. He later added during an interview with the station that “there’s nothing about this that would require it to be public. The folks that came out didn’t want it public; there’s no reason for it to be public.” “I think they’re …

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the fiscal year 2018 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill which includes the Industrial Hemp Water Rights Act. This measure would allow federally-controlled water to be used for hemp cultivation, according to a Westword report. Currently, the Bureau of Reclamation prohibits the use of water under its jurisdiction from being used for hemp-growing purposes. The measure was introduced by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner in an effort to clear up the water-use issue for legal hemp programs. The 2014 Farm Bill allows state departments of agriculture to license farmers to conduct research programs, along with institutes of higher education; however, it did not address the water issue. “This is a step in …

While a number of states have decided to jump on the recreational marijuana bandwagon over the past few years, the movement would be less emboldened without the proven success of Colorado. Nowadays, a number of lawmakers are turning to the Rocky Mountain region for advice on how to implement cannabis legalization the right way. Thanks to the legalization of recreational cannabis sales in 2014, an incredible amount of tax revenue and economic opportunities have been created across The Centennial State. Earlier this week, canna-centric government relations and strategic communication firm VS Strategies published an analysis revealing that retail marijuana sales have generated more than $500 million in tax revenue for Colorado. According to publicly available data released by Colorado’s Department of Revenue, this milestone …

Secret meetings taking place this week in Colorado involving some of the federal government’s leading agencies against the drug culture could be an indication that it is just now just a matter of time before U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions launches a full blown attack against the legal cannabis trade. According to a recent report from CBS affiliate KKTV 11 News in Colorado Springs, some of Uncle Sam’ top hammers, including the Department of Justice, the DEA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) have been meeting this week with local officials to discuss the issue of marijuana enforcement. An anonymous figure close to the situation apparently tipped off the news source prior to the meeting, …

Jay Leno has found a high-performance sports car that smokes the competition with the help of cannabis. The comedian and automobile enthusiast invited retired Dell executive Bruce Dietzen on the latest episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” to show off the 2017 Renew, an environmentally sustainable car that’s carbon-neutral to produce. The Renew’s body is constructed from woven cannabis hemp, a non-psychoactive crop related to pot. “It’s not made out of marijuana,” Dietzen explains in the video below. “It’s made out of cannabis hemp. You could smoke all the cannabis hemp you could possibly want and you won’t get high.” The show goes on to explain that the car’s material is lighter than fiberglass and ten times stronger than steel, which …

NORML | July 20, 2017 Revenues from Colorado’s legal cannabis industry have surpassed over a half-billion dollars since retail sales began on January 1, 2014. According to an analysis by VS Strategies, cannabis-related taxes and fees have yielded $506,143,635 in new state revenue over the past three and one-half years. Local tax revenue was excluded from the analysis. Much of the revenue raised has gone to fund school construction projects, school-drop out and substance abuse prevention programs, and grant funding. The half-billion dollar total far exceeds initial projections. Tax revenue from legal cannabis sales in Oregon and Washington have also exceeded regulators’ initial expectations. In Nevada, where retail sales to adult became legal on July 1, retailers reported over 40,000 …

For the twelfth month in a row, combined medical and recreational sales in Colorado have surpassed $100 million, as the state Department of Revenue reports sales for May topped $127.7 million, according to state figures outlined by Forbes. Since the beginning of this year, cannabis sales in Colorado have totaled $620 million, with $95 million paid to the state in taxes. Separately, a VS Strategies report found that Colorado has reaped $506,143,635 in taxes and fees derived from the legal cannabis since legal sales began on Jan. 1, 2014. According to the report, 51.3 percent of those funds have been used for K-12 education, including $117.9 million for school construction projects, and $5.7 million for the Public School Fund. Mason …

Partner Colorado Credit Union has created a Credit Union Service Organization to serve other credit unions interested in serving the cannabis space, according to a Credit Union Times report. The program, called Safe Harbor Private Banking, is designed as a stand-alone company that seeks to “expand the (Partner Colorado) cannabis banking program nationally and help other financial institutions solve the issue of the unbanked cannabis industry,” said Sundie Seefried, Partner Colorado CEO. Currently, the Safe Harbor program run by the credit union banks $80 million monthly from state-approved cannabis industry operators. Seefried will continue to oversee Partner Colorado’s Safe Harbor program as well as the credit union. Matthew Cochran, a business and product development with more than 20 years of …