Featured guests: Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and Ron Kammerzell, senior director of enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue.
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LOTS TO TALK ABOUT
• Setting the record straight: Rates for teen cannabis use in Colorado are reportedly flat since recreational sales started in 2014, but some argue it’s rising.
• The state of Colorado runs stings on pot shops for underage sales, similar to liquor stores. How do the two compare?
• In the eyes of the people with the plan, we analyze the creation of the rules for the recreational marijuana marketplace.
TOP MARIJUANA NEWS
Oregon pot growers eye potential for marijuana tourism: Marijuana tourism could join vineyards and pear orchards as Rogue Valley agricultural mainstays in southwest Oregon and draw in more tourists, pot growers say. “I was a parent who said, ‘Don’t smoke this crap,’” Dewey Wilson, 61, told the Mail Tribune, noting that a decade ago he considered legalization of marijuana unimaginable. “I never thought this would happen. I’ve come full circle on the issue.” Wilson, who’s growing 1,100 cannabis plants with a potential value of more than $2 million along the Rogue River, said he and his son began smoking marijuana for medical reasons. –Report by The Associated Press
Marijuana arrests fall to lowest level since 1996: Arrests for simple marijuana possession in the United States fell to nearly a two-decade low last year, according to new statistics released Monday by the FBI. The number of arrests for marijuana possession in 2015 — 574,641 — is the lowest number since 1996. It represents a 7 percent year-over-year drop, and roughly a 25 percent drop from the peak of close to 800,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2007. The FBI data suggest that, in aggregate, law enforcement officers are devoting less time to marijuana enforcement relative to other drugs. In 2010, for instance, marijuana sales and possession together accounted for 52 percent of all drug arrests. By 2015, that number had fallen to 43 percent. By contrast, the numbers show police have been making more arrests for cocaine and heroin, and for other non-narcotic drugs. –Report by The Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham
PBS travel guru Rick Steves touring Massachusetts in support of marijuana legalization: Steves plans to make three stops across the state next month to stump for ballot Question 4, which would legalize adult use of marijuana. Steves is host of the PBS series “Rick Steves’ Europe” and a long-time advocate of easing marijuana laws. In a statement, Steves said there are many reasons to end the prohibition on pot, and he announced plans to make a hefty donation to the campaign. –Report by The Associated Press
POT QUIZ
Test your current-events knowledge about a major Denver suburb with one shop license left, marijuana use among college football players in Colorado, an embattled 420-centric social media company and more.
