A commission of Colorado criminal justice leaders voted Friday to recommend reduced penalties for possessing marijuana and other illegal drugs.
If Colorado legislators adopt the recommendations, possessing up to 4 ounces of marijuana would become a petty offense instead of a criminal misdemeanor, and possessing 8 to 16 ounces would become a misdemeanor instead of a felony.
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — High-altitude partying is a deeply carved tradition in ski country, where alcohol in the open and illicit drugs in the shadows have been intertwined for years.
Even before last week’s town vote here that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, one of the best-selling T-shirts at Shirt and Ernie’s on Main Street winked at what it means to live and play 9,600 feet up in the Rockies.
“Dude,” the shirt says, “I think this whole town is high.”
But what the town’s drug ordinance could mean for the local culture and economy, as well as its potential impact on the resort industry if more ski towns go Breckenridge’s way, has become part of the discussion as people scan the skies and wait for snow.
A group of medical-marijuana advocates — striving for legitimacy for their still-nascent industry — announced the formation of a new trade group Wednesday.
The Colorado Wellness Association, its founders said, will formulate regulations for the state's booming medical- marijuana dispensary business, develop quality-control guidelines to protect patients, produce a regular magazine and perhaps even start an online medical-marijuana commodities market for dispensary owners to purchase their product.
City staff ordered to come up with long-term regulations by spring
By Heath Urie, Boulder Daily Camera
For the next 140 days, any new medical-marijuana dispensaries opening up shop in Boulder must comply with a set of temporary regulations aimed at keeping the controversial businesses away from schools and from lining streets one after another.
The Boulder City Council early Wednesday morning voted 4-2 to approve an emergency ordinance outlining where newly licensed dispensaries can operate for the next four months.
A Denver District Court judge rebuked the state board of health today for changing rules about medical marijuana without providing adequate notice to patients.
In his ruling, Chief Denver District Court Judge Larry Naves struck down the state board's actions from a meeting earlier this month. At that telephone conference meeting the board repealed the definition of medical-marijuana "caregiver", casting the burgeoning industry into uncertainty —— all without taking public testimony. Naves also ordered the state to pay the attorneys' fees of medical-marijuana advocates, who filed a motion saying they were wrongly blocked from participating in the hearing.Read more »
The U.S. Justice Dept., at the direction of the Obama Administration, last month announced that it would no longer direct federal investigative resources to pursue criminal charges against medical marijuana clinics, providing they are operating lawfully. The policy represents a major shift in tactics from the Bush Administration, which had federal agents raiding medical marijuana distributors on the basis of violating federal statutes (federal law outlaws marijuana possession under the Controlled Substances Act)—even if the operators were in compliance with state laws.
One bill would require medical-marijuana dispensaries to provide other health services, limit where they can operate and require additional screenings of younger patients.
Another would put the state in the pot-growing business and require dispensaries to have licensed pharmacists on staff.
Both are initial volleys in an upcoming legislative battle to shape a burgeoning industry that has flourished under one of the nation's most permissive medical-pot laws.
The fight will pit those who favor regulating the estimated 100-plus dispensaries now operating in Colorado against those who hope to limit the number of patients one provider can serve.
Conventional wisdom dictates that if the people lead then our political leaders will follow. Of course, when it comes to marijuana law reform, conventional wisdom seldom applies.
In a result that should come as a surprise to nobody — except for perhaps certain members of law enforcement and state lawmakers — Maine voters today overwhelmingly approved Question 5, the Maine Marijuana Medical Act. The measure amends existing state law by: establishing a confidential patient registry, expanding the list of qualifying conditions for which a physician may recommend medicinal cannabis, and by allowing for the creation of non-profit state-licensed nonprofit dispensaries to assist in the distribution of medical cannabis to qualified patients.
'There was no public outcry against the Obama position,' Boulder Colorado District Attorney Stan Garnett told Examiner.com in an exclusive interview. 'The announcement was anti-climactic. We all knew it was coming.'
'The only objections so far have been some ultra-conservative columnists!'
Garnett feels that the current United States Supreme Court is going to let marijuana remain a local issue. 'Each state has its own resources and priorities,' he said.
Welcome to WhyProhibition.ca. We are working to repeal the prohibition of cannabis by organizing and educating the public. Sign up to get activism alerts, and access to organizing tools.
By David Olinger 
By 
By John Ingold
City staff ordered to come up with long-term regulations by spring
By John Ingold
By 
By Jessica Fender, The Denver Post
By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
By. Dev Meyers
Residents of the ski resort town of Breckenridge voted to legalize adult possession of marijuana on Tuesday.
