Responsible Use of Cannabis During the Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone and what a year it has been!

Cannabis advocates have been working hard, hand in hand with their fellow advocates and cannabis legalization opponents, to hammer out the recreational marijuana retail landscape for Colorado in 2014.   I know everyone is excited for January 1, 2014 and the groundbreaking historic moment it will be when anyone 21 or older can go into a store and legally (statewise that is) buy cannabis off the shelf!

That being said we in Colorado have won the war on the drugs and now we need to ensure we do not commit any post-war atrocities!  During this holiday season, if you are going to use cannabis use it responsibly.  All eyes are on us and even lawful use of cannabis can be a PR nightmare that will be used by legalization opponents to try and roll back our victories.

Enjoy yourselves, be safe, don' be arrogant, respect the opinions of other even if you do not agree with them (that is the American way) and above all....do not get high and drive!  Law enforcement does not support lawful cannabis use in Colorado and will be looking for ways to beef up their DUID statistics to show that legalizing cannabis in Colorado was a big mistake.

Remember, they cannot arrest you and charge you with a crime if you do not commit one!  More accurately, they might arrest you and charge you with a crime even if you did not commit one but when those charges go to the district attorneys and get thrown out of court again and again the district attorneys and judges will start turning on law enforcement for wasting their time and resources.

Don't give them a reason to arrest you in the first place!

For more information on responsible cannabis use check out this link:

http://www.coloradonorml.org/information/principles-of-responsible-cannabis-use

Colorado Department of Revenue's Proposed Retail Marijuana Regulations

Attention Colorado business owners interested in opening a Colorado retail marijuana business!  Education yourself on what you will need to do to open a Colorado retail marijuana business.

The Colorado Department of Revenue: Marijuana Enforcement Division has release their first draft of proposed regulations.  You can review the proposed changes here

Don't like these rules?  Then let your voice be heard at a public comments session!

For more information visit the DOR: MED website here.

CDPHE Proposes Changes To Medical Marijuana Regulations

Attention Colorado medical marijuana patients and caregivers!  Know your rights and know when they are changing!

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is proposing an updated to Colorado's medical marijuana regulations.  You can review the proposed changes here.

Disagree with these changes?  Then let your voice be heard at a public comments session!

For more information visit the CDPHE: Medical Marijuana website here.

A64 Marijuana Task Force Release Recommendation Report

In December of 2012 Colorado Governor John W. Hickenlooper, by Executive Order, formed a Task Force to debate and make recommendations on how Amendment 64 is to be implemented in Colorado.  These Recommendation have just been formally release and can be found here Task Force Recommendations.

I was very fortunate to be appointed to this Task Force as a representative of marijuana consumers and to ensure that the consumers interests are protected.  The Task Force's mission was as follows:

"The Task Force's mission shall be to identify the legal, policy, and procedural issues that need to be resolved, and to offer suggestions and proposals for legislative, regulatory and executive actions that need to be taken, for the effective and efficient implementation of Amendment 64. The Task Force is encouraged to develop a comprehensive framework and timeline for legislation and regulations needed to implement Amendment 64. The Task Force shall report its recommendations and findings to the Governor, to the General Assembly and to the Attorney General."

For the next few months this Task Force met every other week to debate and vote on the issues raised by the five subgroups formed by the Task Force.  For more details on the subgroups please read the report.  I was also selected as a member of the Social Issues Working Group.

Although I did not agree with and voted against many of the Recommendations in this report it was great to see marijuana issues seriously debated in a public forum requiring many of our elected officials to take formal stances on the issues!

However, our work is not done yet!  Please contact your legislative representatives and congressmen and let them know what you think of these Recommendations and what they should do with them.