GOLDEN — Jefferson County staff will begin to draft ordinances to allow marijuana testing facilities, but ban all other aspects of the retail marijuana industry, including sales, manufacturing and cultivation facilities.

The ordinances will pertain only to the unincorporated areas of the county, which have not yet allowed any retail marijuana businesses to operate thanks to a moratorium that was put in place in 2013 and extended last year. The moratorium expires Jan. 1, 2016.

Last night, the first television ad trying to encourage you to go out and buy some recreational pot was supposed to air during an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Liveon KMGH, an ABC affiliate in Denver. E.W. Scripps Company, which owns the station, decided to put the brakes on it — along with all other potential marijuana ad campaigns — for the near future.

Nelson: 'I never thought I’d see the day it would be legal'

BRIARCLIFF, Texas - Relaxing at his ranch outside of Austin, Texas, country music legend Willie Nelson discussed his plans to enter the marijuana market this fall.

Nelson said that he made the decision after the sale of recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado and Washington state in 2012.

“We’re setting up businesses there,” Nelson said, explaining that he hopes to have what he’ll call “Willie’s Reserve” available by September in Colorado.

“This product is some of the best they have to offer up there,” he said.

Nelson said that he understands that there will be plenty of competition.

DENVER — Microscopic bugs and mildew can destroy a marijuana operation faster than any police raid. And because the crop has been illegal for so long, neither growers nor scientists have any reliable research to help fight the infestations.

As legal marijuana moves from basements and backwoods to warehouses and commercial fields, the mold and spider mites that once ruined only a few plants at a time can now quickly create a multimillion-dollar crisis for growers. Some are turning to industrial-strength chemicals, raising concerns about safety.

It is becoming easier to get marijuana, legally. In the last 20 years or so, 23 states, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed laws that make it legal to use marijuana for medical treatments. So have some countries, like Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Israel, Portugal and Spain.

Earlier this month Colorado health officials voted 6 – 2 to reject medical cannabis as a legal treatment for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Here’s what you should know about the decision:

1. It’s the third ‘no’ vote

This is the third time Colorado health officials haverefused to put marijuana on an approved list of PTSD treatments, even though the health board has okayed medical marijuana as treatment for a variety of other conditions since 2001.

Mike Latona, left, and his son Christopher, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning from Army service in Afghanistan, on Wednesday testified in support of approving medical marijuana for treatment of the disorder.(Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Re: “Colorado board votes no on allowing medical marijuana for PTSD,” July 16 news story.

I am a Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It took me years to figure the problem out and a couple more for the drugs to take effect. I wasn’t capable of dealing with society, but after a few years of the correct drugs, managing society became tolerable.

Using sunlight instead of electric lights could cut the price of pot in half.

It's scientifically proven that marijuana increases users' consumption of (or at least desire for) junk food.

On the supply side, pot cultivation also increases consumption—of electricity. Growing pot indoors requires power-sucking lights and climate-control systems. In Denver, almost half of the city's year-over-year increase in electricity use has come from its hundreds of new indoor pot farms.

Denver’s ABC affiliate KMGH-Channel 7 is on the verge of running what is said to be the first marijuana-related TV commercials. But after confirming the controversial move in The Cannabist, the station on Friday put the ads on hold.

For now, the issue is in the hands of owner E.W. Scripps’ lawyers.

KMGH-Channel 7 is weighing one 15-second spot for The Green Solution, a company with several dispensaries in the state, and another for Neos, a company that sells cannabis-oil-loaded vape pens.

The Colorado Board of Health made the right call Wednesday when it rejected a proposal to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the conditions that qualify for medical marijuana.

To be sure, some veterans who suffer from PTSD insist that marijuana is vital to their well-being. A few were asked to leave.