Featured guests: Cannabis consultant Will Evans and Canopy Boulder managing director Micah Tapman.
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LOTS TO TALK ABOUT
• Of all the companies in legal cannabis, who is winning the brand war?
• Venture capitalists in Colorado have millions to invest in marijuana.
• The marijuana industry is working to include women and minorities, but more can be done.
TOP MARIJUANA NEWS
White House protest sparks up against U.S. marijuana law: The mass of protesters gathered for a White House protest couldn’t quite wait for 4:20 Saturday afternoon, the pre-planned time they had designated to light their marijuana-packed joints and pipes in protest of the federal laws that prohibit the drug’s consumption. Just past 4:17, plumes of smoke arose from the crowd of more than 100 people, which was surrounded by officers from the U.S. Park Police, Metropolitan Police and the Secret Service. Still, because the activists remained on the street (owned by the District, which has legalized pot possession) and off the sidewalks (owned by the federal government, which has not) no one was arrested. Just two people were given citations and $25 fines for public consumption. A man who knew the pair said they were confronted by police only after a member of their group accidentally blew smoke in an officer’s face. —Report by The Washington Post’s John Woodrow Cox
Cannabist faces off in Leafly’s extensive Pot Brownie taste test: The pot brownie is one of the quintessential icons of psychoactive drug counterculture. For whatever reason it was never the THC-infused cookie or cupcake that went on to define the conversation around cannabis edibles. Decades before marijuana legalization was even a realistic glimmer in advocates’ eyes, the pot brownie was something that was agreed upon — a delicious vehicle for weed’s many cannabinoids, most notably THC. —Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca
In Denver, more and more pot shops are close to schools:As legal marijuana has proliferated in Denver, city officials concerned about exposure to children long have tried to keep pot shops at least 1,000 feet from schools. Yet more than two dozen schools in the city now are located closer than that to stores selling medical or recreational marijuana, according to a Denver Post analysis of city data. The Post identified 25 shops closer than 1,000 feet to at least one nearby school, out of 215 medical, recreational or dual marijuana shops. — Report by The Denver Post’s Jon Murray
New Jimmy Kimmel sketch says moms can be stoners, too: Even late-night host Jimmy Kimmel sees that the marijuana — err, cannabis — industry is in the thick of a very real marketing campaign. “The marijuana industry is looking to rebrand itself,” Kimmel says in a new skit, embedded above. “They want to change the image of marijuana users to show that pot smokers aren’t just skaters and rappers and gamers — they’re also your neighbors and your teachers and maybe even your mom.” Playing off modern marijuana’s expanded acceptance — and businesses’ plentiful attempts at monetizing cannabis as appetite suppressant or marijuana as menstrual painkiller — Kimmel’s “Mom Weed” skit is pretty dang funny. — Report by The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca
POT QUIZ
Test your current-events knowledge about an Alaskan cannabis club, Colorado law firm Vicente Sederberg, the Denver 4/20 Rally and more.
