Depending on the circles you run in, you may have heard about the supposed bad news for Colorado marijuana legalization advocates. “New poll shows more Coloradans opposed to legal marijuana” said Colorado’s second-largest newspaper, the Colorado Springs Gazette; “COLORADANS NOW OPPOSE MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION” screamed Parents Opposed to Pot; “COLORADO HAS BUYERS’ REMORSE FOR LEGAL WEED” bellowed California Stop Pot 2016 triumphantly.

All over a little survey funded by an out-of-state anti-marijuana organization called Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth. Here’s the Gazette:

A poll sponsored by the Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth shows that slightly more than half of Coloradans are now opposed to marijuana legalization.

According to a release from SmithJohnson Research, 51 percent of 600 likely voters in Colorado said they would vote against marijuana legalization if it came up today. The poll, which was conducted over the phone with self-identified 2012 voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

The survey results show a change in mood in the years since Amendment 64 was on the ballot when 55 percent of Colorado voters supported legalizing recreational marijuana sales to adults over the age of 21.

Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth (CADFY) is a California-based prohibitionist organization also known as Californians for Drug Free Youth. According to the Gazette, they are a “nonprofit organization based in San Diego that promotes state, federal and international drug policies that keep drugs out of the hands of youth.” According to their website, CADFY wants you to go on social media and warn your friends, family, and coworkers about the “dangers of marijuana and other illicit drugs.” They also provide links in their “news” section to unapologetic propaganda like “Clearing The Smoke on Medical Marijuana.”

The Gazette itself is a newspaper with an agenda. Owned by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, who also owns The Weekly Standard and Washington Examiner, and has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican and “family values” causes, the Gazette recently ran a questionable and widely-ridiculed modern day Reefer Madness hysteria hit piece entitled Clearing the Haze and written by a well-known local anti-pot crusader.

The fact is that all recent major polls run by respected pollsters with real records (try googling “Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth” and “SmithJohnson Research”) are showing the same thing: Support for marijuana legalization is up up up. Not only in Colorado–where, at last check, 89% of Colorado voters supported medical marijuana and 62% supported personal use, but also nationwide where there is clear majority support. Today a new Public Policy Polling survey shows that even Republicans in the early battleground states of Iowa and New Hampshire believe that “states should be able to carry out their own marijuana laws without federal interference.” The numbers are astounding: 64 and 67 percent of Republicans in each respective state agreed with that statement.

So why should we believe a poll sponsored by an organization that is trying to interfere with another state’s politics again? And why is Colorado’s second largest newspaper so publicly fighting such an obviously lost cause?

Photo Credit for featured image: Brett Levin via flickr Creative Commons.

What do President Barack Obama, right-wing talk king Rush Limbaugh, pop star Miley Cyrus, and most of the 2016 presidential candidates all have in common? You know, beyond the fact that they travel with security and are rich beyond our wildest dreams? They all smoke or have smoked marijuana and today were included in Marijuana Policy Project‘s “Top 50 Influential Marijuana Consumers” list. The pro-cannabis advocacy group puts this list together ever year to show America that current and former marijuana users–counter to mainstream “slacker” stereotypes–sit among the world’s most successful movers and shakers.

This year’s list didn’t see a whole lot of movement compared to 2014, with about 80% of last year’s names remaining on the list. Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Clarence Thomas, Jay-Z, and Stephen Colbert all hung tight in the top ten, while celebrities Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dog, Hugh Hefner, and Robert Downey Jr stayed in the bottom brackets. Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, and Katy Perry were all new additions while Michael Phelps, David Letterman, Maya Angelou, and Oliver Stone fell off the list completely.

Perhaps the most important and interesting addition this year was “2016 Presidential Hopefuls” coming in second place. Two of 2014’s names (Rand Paul and Lincoln Chaffee) were consolidated into this year’s “hopefuls” category. As MPP’s Director of Communications Mason Tvert explained, it’s likely that a plurality of this crop of candidates has partaken of the (mostly) forbidden plant:

“At least eight (and as many as 17) of the 23 major-party presidential hopefuls have said or strongly indicated that they have consumed marijuana: Jeb Bush, Lincoln Chafee, Ted Cruz, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and Rick Santorum. Nine others do not appear to have said whether they have consumed marijuana, and they did not respond to inquiries from MPP: Joe Biden, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Martin O’Malley, and Jim Webb. Only six candidates have said they never used marijuana: Hillary Clinton, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker.”

Marijuana Policy Project’s list is put together using the same criteria that LGBT magazine Out utilizes when curating its “Power 50” list: “‘power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person’s media profile.’ To qualify for MPP’s list, individuals must (1) be alive, (2) be a U.S. citizen, and (3) have consumed marijuana at least once in their life according to either their own account or that of a legitimate source. They do not need to currently consume marijuana or support marijuana policy reform.”

Tvert emphasized the list’s intent to shatter stereotypes:

“We hope this list will make people question some of the anti-marijuana propaganda they’ve been hearing for so long. Millions of adults enjoy consuming marijuana for many of the same reasons that adults enjoy consuming alcohol. The only thing that makes marijuana consumers more likely to become ‘losers’ are the legal penalties they face just for using it.”

Here is a complete list of the Top 50 Influential Marijuana Consumers, as determined by MPP (note the hilarious addition of #50):

1. Barack Obama

2. 2016 Presidential Hopefuls

3. Oprah Winfrey

4. Bill Clinton

5. John Kerry

6. Stephen Colbert

7. Clarence Thomas

8. Katy Perry

9. LeBron James

10. Jay Z

11. Bill Gates

12. George Soros

13. Jon Stewart

14. Bill Maher

15. Rush Limbaugh

16. Andrew Cuomo

17. Sanjay Gupta

18. George W. Bush

19. Seth MacFarlane

20. George Clooney

21. Lady Gaga

22. Ted Turner

23. Brad Pitt

24. Rihanna

25. Whoopi Goldberg

26. Morgan Freeman

27. Angelina Jolie

28. Conan O’Brien

29. Martha Stewart

30. Gov. John Hickenlooper (CO)

31. Gov. Charlie Baker (MA)

32. Tom Brokaw

33. Michael Bloomberg

34. Justin Timberlake

35. Aaron Sorkin

36. Glenn Beck

37. Al Gore

38. Matt Damon

39. Susan Sarandon

40. Madonna

41. Robert Downey, Jr.

42. Phil Jackson

43. Rick Steves

44. Jennifer Lawrence

45. Miley Cyrus

46. Jennifer Aniston

47. Matthew McConaughey

48. Snoop Dogg

49. Hugh Hefner

50. Maureen Dowd

Photo Credit for Featured Image: DonkeyHotey via flickr Creative Commons

Nearly two years after former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the “Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act” that would allow the sale and possession of medical marijuana, and just two months before the state reportedly plans on allowing dispensaries to open, the Illinois Department of Agriculture has finally revealed who, exactly, it will allow to grow the plants. In response to an Associated Press public records request, the state caved after initially withholding the information for no stated reason:

The Illinois Department of Agriculture released the business names of seven authorized growers to The Associated Press on Thursday in response to a public records request. The department initially withheld the company names without giving a reason.

The centers with approval to grow are: PharmaCann in Dwight, GTI in Rock Island, Ace in Delavan, Nature’s Grace and Wellness in Vermont, In Grown Farms in Freeport, Ataraxia in Albion and Ace in Barry.

As the AP notes, these businesses are spread across the Illinois map, with locations close to the state’s northern Wisconsin border and near Kentucky to the south. Revolution Enterprises, which owns the Barry, IL grow center, announced today that their center is “up and running,” and could eventually employ as many as 70 people.

The repeatedly delayed implementation of the program has caused a lot of confusion and frustration in Illinois, where thousands have already gone through a demanding application process that requires fingerprinting, background checks, and medical certifications that physicians are reportedly reluctant to provide patients. Most observers, however, now seem optimistic that marijuana sales will finally begin this fall.

For those who don’t qualify for the medical program (or can’t afford its $100 fee or make it to one of the fingerprinting facilities), there is still hope on the horizon as Illinois looks set to finalize a law that will decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, even for those without a medical license.

Colorado today launched a new anti-pot campaign aimed at the state’s youth. Coming after a $2 million 2014 youth prevention campaign called “Don’t Be A Lab Rat” was heavily criticized for its Reefer Madness-style scaremongering, the new version has a softer, more positive vibe, focusing on fresh-faced teenagers doing teenagery stuff like playing sports, studying, taking driving tests, and trying to get a date with their summer crush. The recreational marijuana tax-funded message, the Associated Press notes, is “Marijuana isn’t evil, but teens aren’t ready for it:”

Colorado launched a rebranding effort Thursday that seeks to keep people under 21 away from pot. The “What’s Next” campaign aims to send the message that marijuana can keep youths from achieving their full potential.

The campaign shows kids being active and reminds them that their brains aren’t fully developed until they’re 25. The ads say that pot use can make it harder for them to pass a test, land a job, or pass the exam for a driver’s license.

The What’s Next message comes fully equipped with a fresh website featuring nearly a dozen 15-second videos that will, one can assume, eventually make their way to television, a Twitter account that hasn’t yet been used, and an Instagram page featuring heavy use of the #whatsnext tag. As in, “Don’t let marijuana get in the way of trust, passion, fitness, or whatever’s next [#whatsnext].”

Compared to the Don’t Be A Lab Rat campaign website, which featured screaming headlines like “YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS WEED HAS ON THE TEENAGE BRAIN” (seriously) and “Legal Pot Might Make America’s Kids Stupider, Say Researchers” (yeah, really), What’s Next is refreshingly serene with a common sense message. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says that it “conducted extensive research with more than 800 young Coloradans through school visits, focus groups and phone interviews,” and unsurprisingly found that kids don’t want to be preached at or scared straight:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s new youth marijuana education and prevention campaign, launched this week, encourages young Coloradans to think about how their goals will be easier to achieve without marijuana.
…
The health department conducted extensive research with more than 800 young Coloradans through school visits, focus groups and phone interviews. This research revealed young people want credible information to make their own health decisions and don’t respond to “preachy” messages or scare tactics from traditional media sources. They do respond to messages they can shape and share across mobile platforms — messages that talk about marijuana’s impact on goals such as landing a job, getting and keeping a driver’s license, or doing well on a test.

This new friendlier face of anti-marijuana messaging, as corny as it may seem, is a hopeful change in direction for the state of Colorado and the way it addresses the important issue of cannabis use by young people. And, being that youth prevention is one of the key indicators the Justice Department considers when determining whether or not to crack down on state marijuana efforts, these types of campaigns are vital to the anti-prohibition movement as a whole. 

Famed neurosurgeon, best-selling author, and former FOX News contributor Ben Carson announced in May that he would be running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. After catapulting to mainstream attention in 2013 by using his position as keynote speaker at the annual National Prayer Breakfast to rail against political correctness, “moral decay,” and the Affordable Care Act, all while President Obama sat two chairs away, he’s seen his standing steadily rise on the political right–especially with the Tea Party set–and is experiencing a surge after the first GOP debate held earlier this month. The famously soft-spoken doctor has used his newfound platform to speak words that resonate loudly, painted with analogies seemingly designed to raise the blood pressure of progressives everywhere: Comparing gay marriage to bestiality and pedophilia? Check. Obamacare to slavery? Check. The IRS, political correctness, and modern America to Nazi Germany? Check, check, and check!

On most issues held dear by primary-voting Republicans, Ben Carson sits right at the sweet spot. His “On the Issues” page pushes all the right buttons: Abortion, balanced budget, Common Core, Obamacare, patriotism, Putin, gun rights, and Israel. The Seventh-day Adventist makes frequent references to his faith and seems to sincerely believe that it is God’s calling that’s led him from keynote speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast two years ago to second-place–just behind Donald Trump–in the current GOP primary race.

But where does this mild-mannered Tea Party hero stand on some of the most important affairs facing America today in the drug war and marijuana legalization? His official campaign platform is silent on these issues, but lucky for us the man himself has not been so quiet as he’s made the media rounds. So, while the candidate hasn’t put forth any drug policy per se, we can get an idea of what a Carson presidency would look like for marijuana consumers by examining his public comments.

He was especially outspoken last year at the dawn of Colorado’s extremely successful recreational cannabis legalization effort. The day after recreational sales went into effect, he took to FOX News to say that, while “Medical use of marijuana in compassionate cases has been proven to be useful,” the recreational use of cannabis is not “something we really want for our society,” adding that, “you know, we’re gradually just removing all the barriers to hedonistic activity.”

Later that same month, Carson spoke with NewsMax’s Steve Malzberg and claimed that marijuana smokers “can have flashbacks months and years after usage, [and] that a lot of their abilities can be impaired at the time of use.”

In July of 2014, Carson made some of his more outrageous comments in an interview with World News Daily, implying that what he sees as a failed and scandal-plagued Obama presidency is a result of the President’s admitted marijuana use, and stating that cannabis has a “deleterious effect” on society:

“When we do things like have our Attorney General and our president say ‘Yeah, marijuana’s not that bad. You know, I used and look how I turned out!’ Well, that’s the problem [laughter]. And you know we have clear scientific evidence that the use of cannabis in the developing brain is detrimental and the brain is developing until your late 20s. Well who are the people who are using it? You know, teens and early and mid-20s. There’s gonna be consequences for that. Why are they not talking about that? Why are we more concerned about how much sugar there is in the beverage that you’re drinking. Not that that isn’t important. But we need to look at the things that are truly having a deleterious effect on our society and stop the subterfuge…We do so many things to distract people.”

Earlier this year, speaking at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, Carson provided the most insight so far into how he would treat marijuana should he be elected President of the United States. There he promised to enforce federal prohibition laws while buffering a pharmaceutical industry that would derive, synthesize, and bottle-up your cannabidiol and THC, then sell it to you at a 2,000% mark-up, rather than have you purchase the whole flower at your local dispensary:

“There are medicinal uses for the active ingredients of marijuana. However, we must also look at the fact that regular exposure to marijuana in the developing brain has been demonstrated definitively to result in decreased IQ. And the last thing we need is a bunch of people running around with decreased IQ. So, I think we have to take both those things into account. There are ways that you can create pills and ointments and things like that that are used for medicinal purposes while still enforcing federal law. [Yes I would probably enforce the federal drug laws in states like Colorado], providing the use, the appropriate use of medical marijuana.”

It should shock nobody that yet another mainstream presidential candidate is standing firm for the status quo, especially in an electoral system funded heavily by corporate interests strongly invested in the trillion dollar War on Drugs. That doesn’t make it any less discouraging to witness a respected and groundbreaking medical doctor use his influence to peddle half-truths and outright lies about cannabis. The fact is that the results of studies on the effects of marijuana use on the teenage brain are anything but “clear.” In fact, a  famous 2012 Duke University study that purported to show a link between lower IQ rates and teenage use was thoroughly discredited for using flawed methodology and premature “causal inference.” Speaking of causal inference, let’s address that whole “gateway drug” thing: While studies have shown that some marijuana users do go on to “hard” drugs, this seems to be a matter of correlation rather than causation. In fact, alcohol and nicotine use are better indicators of future hard drug abuse than is cannabis consumption. Psychology Today debunks this myth concisely here:

Many people mistakenly believe that marijuana use precedes rather than follows initiation of other illicit drug use. In fact, most drug use begins with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana, making nicotine and alcohol the two most common drugs of abuse. Evidence indicates marijuana is usually not the first substance abused before more dangerous illicit drug experimentation.

A study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of School Health has concluded that the theory of a gateway drug is not associated with marijuana, but rather one of the most damaging and socially accepted drugs in the world, alcohol. The findings from this investigation support that alcohol should receive primary attention in abuse prevention programming, since the use of other substances could be impacted by delaying or preventing alcohol use.

In fact, studies have found that marijuana is the opposite of a “stepping stone,” and is rather a terminus drug, or “exit drug,” that helps those addicted to other substances “reduce or eliminate their use of more harmful drugs by easing withdrawal symptoms.”

To give credit where it’s due, Ben Carson’s stance on medical marijuana is superior to that of his GOP opponent Chris Christie who sees it as “a front for legalization,” but miles behind rivals like Carly Fiorina who, while not a medical doctor, takes a much more reasonable and scientific view of marijuana’s benefits and legalization.

Photo Credit for Featured Image: DonkeyHotey via flickr Creative Commons

Colorado’s legal marijuana market is booming, having blazed past $50 million in sales of recreational cannabis during the month of June, the latest month reported by the Colorado Department of Revenue. This combined with a record $35.2 million in sales of the medical stuff means that total marijuana sales in the state were over $75 million during the month. The Denver Post‘s Cannabist crunched the latest numbers and reported the news this afternoon:

Recreational pot sales jumped more than $7.6 million from May to June, totaling $50.1 million, according to the data. Medical marijuana sales also saw a significant uptick in June, up more than $2.8 million from the previous month for an annual high of $35.2 million.

That’s more than double the amount of recreational weed sold in the same month last year and reflects a 19% jump in medical sales. Total tax revenue for June 2015–including medical, recreational, and licensing fees–also came close to doubling June 2014 figures at $10.9 million vs. $6.5 million respectively.

Even more impressive is total year-to-date tax revenue from recreational sales, which is $2.5 million shy of the total amount brought in during the 2014 calendar year. Last year’s recreational sales filled Colorado’s coffers with $44 million, while this report bumps total 2015 tax revenue to nearly $42 million. With this year’s monthly new tax figures averaging $6.9 million, we’re basically guaranteed to surpass that $44 million mark when the July numbers come out in August. You can count on plenty of “COLORADO BEATS 2014 RECREATIONAL POT TAX REVENUE” headlines for sure. While it’s near impossible to draw trends from such a small amount of data, it’s worth noting that recreational sales jumped nearly 19% from June to July of last year and another 16% from July to August before plateauing in the fall. Colorado tourism season is in full effect and we’ll be seeing some very impressive numbers over the next few months.

Keep in mind that this is all happening as recreational prices in the state plummet. Total pot enthusiasm may very well be underrepresented as it takes more people and/or bigger purchases to reach and surpass the same massive dollar amounts.

Image by 401Kcalculator.org via flickr Creative Commons.

Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner today took advantage of his state’s unusual veto rules to amend a bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill, HB 218, as proposed by Illinois lawmakers, would have made possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a $55-$125 fine. Rauner believes those changes are not “careful” or “incremental” enough and issued an amendatory veto, lowering the possession threshold to 10 grams and increasing the maximum fine to $200.

The amendatory veto–which is practiced in only seven U.S. states–allows a governor to make changes to a bill before signing, then send it back to the legislature for either confirmation or rejection. The Illinois General Assembly now has 15 days from the next session date to approve the amended bill and send it on to the House for an up or down vote. If the General Assembly does not accept the governor’s proposed changes, the bill will fail and the state’s drug war will be business as usual creating ruined lives via jail-time and large fines, according to the Chicago Tribune:

In an amendatory veto message to lawmakers, Rauner said he supported the “fundamental purposes” of the bill to keep people out of jail and limit the drain on court resources, but said such a significant change in drug laws “must be made carefully and incrementally.”

The bill now returns to lawmakers, who can vote to go along with Rauner’s changes or reject them. If lawmakers opt not to take up the changes, the bill dies. In the meantime, current law stands. That means someone caught with small amounts of marijuana faces fines of up to $2,500 and up to a year in a jail. Some Illinois cities, including Chicago, have their own ordinances decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Should the amended bill pass, Illinois will become the 21st state to either legalize or decriminalize the possession of marijuana. While the proposed changes have irked the bill’s sponsors who, the Tribune notes, intentionally designed the bill “in line with the governor’s goals,” decriminalization advocates believe that even the new watered-down version is better than nothing. In addition to decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis, the bill would effectively put an end to the state’s “zero tolerance” stoned-driving laws and extend the state’s medical marijuana pilot program that launches later this year. In a statement today, Marijuana Policy Project’s legislative analyst Chris Lindsey encouraged the General Assembly to approve the new deal:

“We hope the General Assembly will approve the amended bill and replace Illinois’ needlessly draconian marijuana possession law with a more sensible policy. Nobody should face a lifelong criminal record and potential jail time for possessing a substance that is safer than alcohol. Serious criminal penalties should be reserved for people who commit serious crimes, not low-level marijuana offenses.

The governor’s version is not preferable to the original bill, but it is still commonsense legislation. It will still prevent countless citizens from having their lives turned upside down by an arrest for simple marijuana possession. This is a major victory for [bill sponsor] Rep. Cassidy and the Assembly, and it is an important step forward for Illinois.”

Photo Credit for Featured Image: JanetandPhil via flickr Creative Commons

If you live in Colorado, your favorite marijuana edibles may soon have a very different look. According to a draft of new rules just released by state marijuana regulators, all edibles would be required to be marked with an octagon-shaped “stop sign” with the letters “THC” clearly visible. Additionally, the state is considering banning the use of words that appeal to children, like “candy,” on packaging. These proposed rules are the result of a working group that convened on August 5th (and then again this last Tuesday) to hammer out details of labeling requirements the Colorado House passed in 2014. That law, House Bill 1366, was designed to “protect people from the unintentional ingestion of edible retail marijuana products; and ensure that edible retail marijuana products are readily identifiable by the general public.”

Edibles have been a major point of contention in Colorado, especially after a slew of negative press surrounding the accidental consumption of edibles by children that resulted in emergency room visits. An adult man was also hospitalized last year after unknowingly eating a cannabis-infused chocolate. Earlier this year a different set of rules went into effect requiring child-proof containers, maximum dosages of 100mg of active THC per unit (10 mg per “serving”), and clearly-marked labels indicating the amount of THC within the product. These rules, too, were the direct result of widely-reported and tragic mishaps, including a man who died after jumping off of a hotel room balcony under the influence of an extremely high dosage of THC consumed in the form of a cookie.

With edibles making up an estimated 45% of total cannabis sales in the state, smart regulation is extremely important. Every child who accidentally eats a marijuana-infused “Sour Patch Kid” and every adult who falls ill after eating a chocolate they didn’t know contained THC is not only a person with jeopardized health, but a weapon that can be used against the legalization movement. It appears that much of the marijuana industry is supportive of these rules, and advocates as well as industry representatives were present at the working group that came up with these rules. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for August 31st and/or September 1st.

One of the biggest selling points of Colorado’s Amendment 64 that voters approved in 2012, legalizing the sale and consumption of marijuana for recreational use, was the idea that cannabis would be treated like alcohol in both regulation and consumption. In fact, the bill was literally named “The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012.” While the state has generally done a fine job of abiding by the spirit of the law, one issue has proven to be more complicated than the others: Public consumption. In a system that requires seed-to-sale tracking, strictly-defined security systems, and vertical integration, one would think that where one chooses to smoke would be the least of the state’s worries. Not so.

In Colorado you can legally sell weed, you can buy it, you can grow it. But you can’t smoke it anywhere other than your own private residence. Even then, if you’re a renter, you’re probably shit out of luck.

This presents an obvious problem for a state which suddenly has a major tourist attraction that doesn’t involve skiing, Broncos, and baseball: Where, exactly, can one smoke the marijuana that they have legally purchased? There are some “420-friendly” hotels, but most do not advertise themselves as such and require vaping which can be expensive for tourists who can’t legally travel with the “drug paraphernalia” required for this method of consumption. Cannabis clubs are mostly underground in Denver, which doesn’t permit them. Colorado’s second biggest city, Colorado Springs, has a few in operation, but they were only recently given an official green light by the conservative mecca’s powers that be. All of this is because Amendment 64 states that marijuana use–like alcohol–may not be consumed “openly and publicly.” This has led most city governments to outright ban the smoking of marijuana in public. Period.

Except that’s not how alcohol is actually regulated. The state of Colorado permits drinking at any place licensed for that purpose (“such as a tavern,” the state’s website helpfully points out). Beer with 3.2 alcohol percentage (by weight) can technically be consumed anywhere by state law, though local jurisdictions have the ability to restrict it. And, perhaps more importantly, this outright ban on the public consumption of marijuana is not what the authors of the bill had in mind when they put it to voters. Speaking with The Denver Post, Marijuana Policy Project’s Mason Tvert, who co-authored the bill said, “Amendment 64 intentionally did not prohibit private businesses from allowing adults to responsibly consume marijuana on the premises. I don’t know where they would get that. [Amendment 64] said it would be illegal to consume openly and publicly, but it’s not open or public if it’s in a private business.”

So Tvert and co-author Brian Vicente set out to change things. Again. Back in June they launched a new initiative: “the Denver Campaign for Limited Social Cannabis Consumption,” which would allow the “consumption of marijuana by individuals twenty-one years of age or older at certain premises that are not private residential property.” In other words, if a business wants to allow its adult customers to smoke marijuana on its premises, and it meets certain criteria, including abiding by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act which forbids indoor smoking, it should be allowed to do so. In order to get the initiative on the ballot, Tvert and Vicente had to collect 4,700 signatures no later than September 3rd.

Today the Limited Social Use campaign announced that they had nearly doubled that requirement, and almost a month early. The Associated Press reports that the campaign collected 8,000 signatures, meaning that, once the city clerk’s office verifies the signatures, Denver’s voters will have the opportunity this November to okay the consumption of marijuana under the limitations listed within the bill:

Patrons would have to bring their own weed and comply with clean-air laws. That means the marijuana would have to be edible, or if smoked, consumed on an outside patio shielded from public view.

A recent Public Policy Polling survey found that 56% of likely voters would support such a bill. If 2012 was any indication, this will likely be another positive step forward for marijuana reform in the state, and probably a good year for other progressive causes.

Correction: This article originally stated that “Colorado voters” will have the opportunity to okay the ballot initiative. The initiative will actually appear only on Denver city ballots this November once the city clerk confirms the validity of the signatures collected.

Photo Credit for Featured Image: Torben Hansen via flickr Creative Commons

Beyond the documented health benefits of cannabis, one of its more revered effects is the creativity it inspires in many of those who consume it. Noted thinkers, artists, scientists, and even executive-level businesspeople have celebrated marijuana’s effects on their work, and we’re not just talking about Hunter S. Thompson, Snoop Lion Dogg, and millionaire dispensary-owners. Steve Jobs, Carl Sagan, Oliver Sacks, and Maya Angelou are just a few of the notable and prolific cultural icons whose lives’ work was informed–if not inspired–by the use of marijuana.

Now, through science and the hard work of a South African palaeoanthropologist, we can add to our list one of the most influential and prolific writers of all times, The Bard himself: William Shakespeare.

Back in 2000, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, England granted South African scientist Francis Thackeray (then heading the Department of Palaeontology and Palaeoenvironmental Studies at the Transv Museum) access to dozens of smoking pipes found at William Shakespeare’s estate. Using advanced forensic technology called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Thackeray determined that four of the pipes contained traces of cannabis residue. In addition to cannabis, traces of cocaine, tobacco, camphor, and the nutmeg-derived psychedelic myristic acid were found in several of the other smoking devices.

Many have long speculated that Shakespeare was a marijuana smoker, often citing his poem Sonnet 76, in which he refers to “a noted weed” and “compounds strange.” Check it out:

Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?

While this discovery was made 15 years ago, a recent issue of Country Life magazine has renewed interest in Shakespeare’s drug use and, no doubt due to our current pot-heavy news cycle, is making headlines again. In internet time, 15 years may as well be a century, so we’re happy to be bringing this back to the world’s attention. Cannabis users are some of the most influential people in the world, and this is as close to definitive proof as you can get.

The debate between the bottom-tier GOP candidates who didn’t poll high enough to make FOX News’ Prime Time Trump Spectacular may not have been the biggest ratings draw tonight, but it did provide for some interesting debate and soundbites. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, for example, promised to re-invade Iraq if elected. Failed businesswoman Carly Fiorina proved herself an eloquent, intelligent, and well-versed force to be reckoned with, and tried-once-already Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry promised to take a bottle of Wite-Out to the White House on his very first day.

All raced a game-show buzzer in an attempt to “tap into historic levels of leadership and [inspire] the nation” (as requested by the moderators) in a 60 second soundbite.

One topic that didn’t come up? Cannabis. Even though, as my colleague Romain Bonilla notes in this excellent piece, marijuana legalization (and the drug war in general) is one of the most pressing and relevant issues of our time–touching on hot-button topics like states’ rights and sentencing reform–the GOP runners-up didn’t even mention it. They weren’t asked. Not about marijuana, not about the drug war–there wasn’t even a question about civil liberties, unless you count abortion.

Hopefully the questions posed by the moderators in this debate aren’t an accurate predictive measurement of how the second debate will go. We’ll keep you posted.

Two recreational cannabis shops in Aspen, Colorado, were recently cited by the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) for selling marijuana to a minor. While some may point to citations to discredit legalization, a sting like this that resulted in two Colorado dispensaries cited for underage sales proves the system is working. In Colorado, recreational marijuana can only legally be sold to adults 21 and older. The two dispensaries were not targeted for any suspicion of wrongdoing, but rather as part of city-wide “compliance checks” (read: undercover stings) by the Colorado Department of Revenue, which parents the MED and regulates cannabis and liquor sales in the state. Out of seven such compliance checks at marijuana dispensaries and an unspecified number of liquor stores, these two were the only shops that failed to comply with state law and, therefore, receive citations.

The grand experiment–and the system regulating it–is working.

Though many may bristle at the thought of undercover agents busting marijuana dispensaries for a variety of reasons, the reality is that Colorado–like other states that have legalized cannabis–is orchestrating a delicate balancing act in an effort to respect the will of its voters while avoiding the crosshairs of the Department of Justice.

In 2013 the Department of Justice released a memorandum to all States Attorneys urging restraint in the prosecution of marijuana crimes in jurisdictions “that legalize under state law the possession of small amounts of marijuana and provide for the regulation of marijuana production, processing, and sale.” It listed eight “enforcement priorities” that federal prosecutors and law enforcement should consider when determining the focus of investigations. There, right at the top of the list, is preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors. The memo (also known as “The Cole Memo“) goes on to explain (emphasis mine):

“In jurisdictions that have enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form and that have also implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana, conduct in compliance with these laws and regulations is less likely to threaten the federal priorities set forth above. Indeed, a robust system may affirmatively address those priorities by, for example, implementing effective measures to prevent diversion of marijuana outside of the regulated system and to other states, prohibiting access to marijuana by minors, and replacing an illicit marijuana trade that funds criminal enterprises with a tightly regulated market in which revenues are tracked and accounted for. In those circumstances, consistent with the traditional allocation of federal-state efforts in this area, enforcement of state law by state and local law enforcement and regulatory bodies should remain the primary means of addressing marijuana-related activity. If state enforcement efforts are not sufficiently robust to protect against the harms set forth above, the federal government may seek to challenge the regulatory structure itself in addition to continuing to bring individual enforcement actions, including criminal prosecutions focused on those harms.”

So, basically the Justice Department is stating: Enforce these rules or face the wrath of a federal government that still considers marijuana as harmful as heroin and more pernicious than guns. Colorado is so far doing a fantastic job at playing by the rules. MED spokesperson Tommy Moore told The Denver Post that his division has performed about 130 compliance checks since early 2014, and only made nine citations. With less than a  7% noncompliance rate, the regulated Colorado cannabis industry isn’t doing bad, much better than the illegal market, for sure.

When voters went to the polls in 2012 voting to “regulate marijuana like alcohol,” they got the deal they wanted. Or close to it. And while a paralyzed Congress slowly attempts to sort all of this weed legalization stuff out, taking advantage of a DOJ willing to turn its head under a few reasonable conditions seems like a perfectly fine strategy. If that means undercover stings and punishing the players who can’t abide by the rules, then so be it.