After 6 months, legal pot in Colorado a mix of highs, lows

[Donger]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...ing-up06262014



DENVER - Nearly six months after Colorado became the first in the world to sell legal recreational marijuana, industry advocates are playing up the high points -- specifically an economic boom and crime in Denver actually declining.

"I think a lot of people are looking at Colorado, and when you see crime going down, that’s a huge sign of success," said Michael Elliot, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group. "I think so many things people were scared about have been shown to be nonsense."

The first four months of recreational pot sales has brought in nearly $11 million in tax revenue, demand for real estate has gone up, and the marijuana industry estimates there are currently 10,000 people working in the business.

On Thursday, the state announced that during 20 undercover operations to test if pot shops would sell to minors, not a single store sold to a child.

"The Division prides itself on ensuring public safety; we are pleased with the results and will continue to monitor the businesses to ensure that the compliance efforts are maintained," said Lewis Koski, Director of the Marijuana Enforcement Division.

But while the state hasn't gone up in smoke, not everyone agrees Colorado is better off and safer.

The state's largest provider of community detox centers, Arapahoe House, reported this week that DUI admissions involving marijuana have nearly doubled since legalization.

In 2013, 8 percent of admissions were accused of driving under the influence of marijuana, and now that's up to 15 percent.

"We're only seeing recreational legalization in it's infancy, but it's already having an impact on public safety," said Araphoe House spokeswoman Kate Edmundson.

7NEWS found small children continue to get their hands on marijuana, particularly edibles.

The Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center said, so far this year it's had 19 calls from people reporting pot ingestion by children younger than 5 years old.

Children's Hospital Colorado said it's treated 11 kids who've ingested edibles marijuana, six of whom have become critically ill.

[kcfanXIII]

Originally Posted by Donger

Not really. See the OP

No, I read the OP. A few kids have got to their parents stash. none have died. all probably learned a valuable lesson. all the while, colorado is no longer ruining the lives of smokers by locking them up and giving them criminal records. I notice the first 3/4 of that article are positive, and at the end they mention a few kids who ingested edibles. No permanent effects (like a crimnal record) and no one died. using that as an argument against ending prohibition is grasping at straws. something your side is doing more and more of these days.

[kcfanXIII]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Hopefully Mo. will be next!


Join
Show-Me Cannabis Independence Town Hall Meeting
Monday, July 21 at 6:30pm
Trails West Library in Independence, Missouri
Show-Me Cannabis Independence Town Hall Meeting

No matter your opinion on cannabis, come out and learn more about our cannabis laws and how we might reform them. We expect this will be an educational and interesting time for residents of Independence and the surrounding areas.

This meeting will take place Monday, July 21 at the Trails West Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, located at 11401 East 23rd Street, Independence, MO 64052. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m., and panelists will include Show-Me Cannabis Executive Director John Payne, Show-Me Cannabis Board Chair and criminal defense attorney Dan Viets, former Johnson County Kansas assistant prosecutor Brian Leininger, and Executive Director of the Show-Me Cannabis Foundation Amber Langston.

We hope to see you there!

Free Sample!!

Show-Me Cannabis are frauds. They are delaying the legalization push in Missouri to 2016.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Katipan

I heard there's a microbrewery infusing their beer here. Must find that place and arrange a vacation for the bartender.

Pot infused alcohol won't do much for you. If you've already been smoking, you win't notice the effects. If you haven't, you get a slight high but the alcohol quickly outweighs it.

I put a quarter of some GDP in a fifth of tequila and let it soak for a month. So I've tested this thoroughly.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

Well, some consider lower crime a positive.

Oh sure. Decriminalizing it reduced crime. That does tend to happen...

[rambleonthruthefog]

Originally Posted by Donger

I see. Another vote for "it's a harmless plant."

Noted.

Not completely harmless. Just the most harmless medicine/drug you can buy. We both know you can't sight one reputable scientific study that proves otherwise. People stand strong on an opinion and are to mentally immature/weak to change their opinion based on fact. How many deaths have they attributed to the pot law?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Pretty sure Donger dismisses that stat. He would probably tell you that it's still a criminal activity and that Colorado calling it legal is a technicality. Kind of like if they suddenly decriminalized murder.

Though it's certainly a positive to see crime rates drop a bit, it's too early to tell for sure if there's any kind of causal relationship there. (Crime rates fluctuate from year to year all the time.) But it's certainly good to see that the chicken littles have been wrong about crime rates spiking.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Donger

I do hate that my state now has become rather synonymous with pot.

If you are so worried how others view your state-maybe you should petition to change your state song.

In 2007, the Colorado legislature named "Rocky Mountain High" as Colorado's second official state song, paired with "Where the Columbines Grow".

One song brings to mind Pot and Columbine-always brings to mind school shootings and mass murder. Two things Colorado is unfortunately known for.

Maybe change "Mile High" while you are at it. That stadium will Always be known as that. Oh and take the "Mile High" plaque off the Capitol building-so nobody gets the wrong idea too.

[digger]

Originally Posted by rambleonthruthefog

even though there is no proof of this danger.

Notice the "We are right, you are wrong." mentality.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

If you are so worried how others view your state-maybe you should petition to change your state song.

In 2007, the Colorado legislature named "Rocky Mountain High" as Colorado's second official state song, paired with "Where the Columbines Grow".

One song brings to mind Pot and Columbine-always brings to mind school shootings and mass murder. Two things Colorado is unfortunately known for.

Maybe change "Mile High" while you are at it. That stadium will Always be known as that. Oh and take the "Mile High" plaque off the Capitol building-so nobody gets the wrong idea too.

What do any of those have to do with pot?

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Donger

What do any of those have to do with pot?

People generally tend to get HIGH on pot.


"Friends around the campfire and everybody's [B]high/B]
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high."

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

People generally tend to get HIGH on pot.


"Friends around the campfire and everybody's [B]high/B]
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high."

That's one interpretation, I suppose.

[teedubya]

Originally Posted by Carlota69

Heres some pics of the pot store, and a GAY BRONCo meme in the making for kicks.

I tried some of that marijuana soda... it tasted delicious, but it is like 10 strong doses of marijuana. So like one swig and you're high. I didn't realize that until after the fact.

[teedubya]

John Denver was a huge pot smoker.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Donger

That's one interpretation, I suppose.

It is Not about pot-I already knew that-but a majority do think it. Here is an interesting article.

Is John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" about marijuana, or is it a big myth-understanding?
By Josiah M. Hesse Categories: Reefer Madness


Second only to "Mile High City," the title of John Denver's folksy classic "Rocky Mountain High" is the pun we're seeing the most lately in reporting about our state's legal weed. For the most part, Colorado has always been particularly proud of the anthem that celebrates our most treasured feature, so much so that we made it our second state song in 2007. And while legalized marijuana is slowly becoming a tourist attraction to rival our beloved Rocky Mountains, when John Denver wrote the lyrics "friends around the campfire and everybody's high," was he celebrating the plant that would give our state a new identity thirty years later?


Sorry to disappoint, but the answer is no, at least according to the songwriter himself. Just as the "Rocky Mountain High" lyric "fire in the sky" is not about an alien abduction, and "Why they try to tear the mountains down . . . more scars upon the land," was not about fracking, the double entendre about being high had nothing to do with cannabis, but about the organic elation that can be found in camping outdoors.

Though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Sporadic radio stations had banned the song throughout the first half of the '80s, fearing FCC retribution for playing a song that promoted drug use. During the Tipper Gore-lead witch-hunt against morally spicy music getting into the hands of minors, John Denver testified alongside Frank Zappa and Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister before Congress during the Parents Music Resource Center hearings. Attempting to set the record straight, Denver said in his testimony:

I am opposed to censorship of any kind. . . . My song 'Rocky Mountain High' was banned from many radio stations as a drug related song. This was obviously done by people who had never seen or been to the Rocky Mountains, and also had never experienced the elation, the celebration of life, the joy of living that one feels when he observes something as wondrous as the Perseid meteor shower on a moonless, cloudless night, when there are so many stars that you have a shadow from the starlight, and you are out camping with your friends, your best friends, and introducing them to one of nature's most spectacular light shows for the first time. This is obviously a clear case of misinterpretation. Mr. Chairman, what assurance have I that any national panel to review my music can make any better judgement?
In his 1994 autobiography, Take Me Home, Denver admitted to using marijuana (along with cocaine and LSD), and would go on to check himself into a rehab clinic for alcohol abuse. But when writing about "Rocky Mountain High," he reiterates that the song's inspiration sprung from when he first moved to Aspen at the age of 27.

"I remember, almost to the moment, when that song started to take shape in my head. We were working on the next album and it was to be called Mother Nature's Son, after the the Beatles song, which I'd included. It was set for release in September. In mid August, Annie and I and some friends went up to Williams Lake to watch the first Perseid meteor showers. . . .
At some point, I went off in a raft to the middle of the lake, singing my heart out. It wasn't so much that I was singing to entertain anyone back on shore, but rather I was singing for the mountains and for the sky... The shadow of the starlight blew me away. Maybe it was the state I was in. I went back and lay down next to Annie in front of our tent, thinking everybody had gone to sleep, and thinking about how in nature all things, large and small, were interwoven, when swoosh, a meteor went smoking by. . . .

I worked on the song -- and the song worked on me -- for a good couple of weeks. I was working one day with Mike Taylor, an acoustic guitarist who had performed with me at the Cellar Door and had moved out to Aspen. Mike sat down and showed me this guitar lick and suddenly the whole thing came together. It was just what the piece needed. When I realized what I had -- another anthem, maybe; a true expression of one's self, maybe -- we changed the sequencing of the album we'd just completed, and then we changed the album title."

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Katipan

I can't even drink Jack.
Can **** the shit out of Jose, tho.

My middle name is Jose. How you doing?