Colorado and Washington, the first two states to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the U.S., have brought in about $200 million in tax revenue, collectively. And the revenue is already benefiting the states and their residents.

“Our philosophy has been that marijuana pays its own way,” said J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of the Office of Marijuana Coordination in Colorado. “Every dime we bring in from legalization is dedicated to the cost of legalization. That’s regulatory framework first, then public education campaigns about safe and responsible use and then prevention and treatment programs.”

DENVER — Whether bought from a downtown shop or cadged from a friend’s basement greenhouse, legal marijuana is easy to find in Colorado. Places to smoke it, not so much.

In less than three weeks, High Valley Farms will learn whether it will remain in business. 

The fate of the marijuana greenhouses, however, isn’t about rent spikes, plummeting revenue or dying business. Instead, this high-stakes battle, which has played out in a series of Pitkin County commissioners meetings over the year, concerns the skunk-like pot odors the greenhouses have been generating since they began operating in March. 

Backers of proposal say they will join talks with city and business leaders to try to work out compromise

Activists behind a proposed Denver ballot initiative to allow some marijuana use in bars and other businesses say they will pull the measure, The Denver Post has confirmed.

Their new goal: crafting a compromise measure with city and business leaders.

The verbal agreement with a group that includes City Attorney Scott Martinez averts a public vote in November — one that might have allowed more extensive pot consumption in publicly accessible places than city officials and some business leaders were comfortable with.

Thumbs too green

On Aug. 25 county commissioners passed a resolution temporarily limiting households to 12 marijuana plants to prevent larger grow operations in unincorporated El Paso County. It's a bigger problem than folks just possessing too much weed.

"[Illegal growers] are coming and destroying [rental] houses," says Commissioner Peggy Littleton. "[They're] putting in ventilation, lighting, stripping things, adding extra outlets everywhere — basically destroying a rental home to set it up as an illegal grow operation. ... I think it's an abuse of what the law was supposed to be."

It’s a busy afternoon at Longview’s Freedom Market as customers stream in to pick up their evening weed. Within 15 minutes, more than 10 customers peruse an array of pot varieties such as “Animal Cookie” and “Sour Diesel.” Every one of them hands over cash.

Pot is predominantly a cash-only business because federal regulations make it difficult for banks to handle money from marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. That leaves customers unable to use debit or credit cards. And it burdens businesses with high security costs, such as using armored vehicles and security guards.

But customers at Freedom Market now have another option, thanks to a new service called PayQwik that offers a cash-free alternative for marijuana businesses and customers.

City health officials say they are holding marijuana products that show pesticides state says cannot be used on cannabis.

Denver health officials Tuesday began inspecting and quarantining hundreds of marijuana products because their labels listed pesticides not approved for use on cannabis.

The move comes about six months after the city quarantined 100,000 plants at 11 grow facilities over concerns about pesticides.

Although pesticides are widely used on crops, their use on cannabis remains problematic because no safety standards exist. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, has never established any limits.

In states where marijuana is legal, a new wedding trend is popping up: open weed bars. How do we get invited? 


Twenty-eight years after Bob Marley romanticized marijuana, the drug has earned top billing in the ultimate love-fest: weddings. 

In Washington, Colorado, Alaska, and Oregon—the four states where it’s recreationally legal —“weed weddings” have gone from a fun idea to a lucrative reality. Through sites like Cannabride.com and LoveandMarij.com ganja-loving bridges and grooms can find everything from 420-focused caterers to kush-pushing florists.

Somewhere in Northern Colorado, just starting to peek out above the corn stalks that surround it, is an often misunderstood and recently approved test crop.

Colorado State University is starting to research hemp, a plant with practical uses but which is also the same species as marijuana, cannabis sativa.

CSU researchers planted 17 varieties of hemp on just less than a half acre on June 6. CSU is using the same protocols as a research project underway in Europe.

BOULDER, CO, Sep. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Surna, Inc. (OTCQB: SRNA), a technology company that engineers state-of-the art equipment for controlled environment agriculture with special expertise in cannabis cultivation, announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Keen as its President and Chief Executive Officer.

In 2007, with his extensive cultivation expertise, Keen founded Hydro Innovations to design and develop liquid cooled technologies for hobby cultivators.  Hydro Innovations was acquired by Surna in 2014, and since then, Keen has been Surna's Vice President of Research and Development, driving Surna's industry-leading innovation engine.