Marijuana
Study: Nationwide medical marijuana program would save more than $1B in tax money, lives too
DENVER – A new study says that a nationwide rollout of medical marijuana would save taxpayers close to $1.1 billion each year on Medicaid prescriptions because medical marijuana use correlates with a decline in prescription drug usage.
The study by the University of Georgia’s father-daughter research team of Ashley Bradford and W. David Bradford lines up with a similar study the two did last year, which found similar correlation with Medicare prescriptions and states with medical marijuana programs.
That study found that taxpayers would save about a half-billion dollars each year under a national medical marijuana program.
But the new study, published this week in Health Affairs, looked at Medicaid – the country’s health care program for low-income people and not Medicare, the health system for elderly Americans.
It found that in states with legal medical marijuana programs, the number of prescriptions through Medicaid written and filled for certain types of drugs fell significantly.
The researchers saw an 11 percent drop in the prescription of painkillers, which include opioids – often blamed for the ongoing opioid and heroin epidemic currently plaguing the U.S.
But they saw larger drops in prescriptions for other drugs as well: There was a 17 percent reduction in nausea medication prescriptions; a 13 percent reduction in depression drug prescriptions; a 12 percent drop in seizure medication prescriptions; and a 12 percent drop in psychosis medication prescriptions.
“Patients and physicians in the community are reacting to the availability of medical marijuana as if it were medicine,” the researchers wrote.
But since most insurance programs don’t offer coverage for medical marijuana, even though it’s available in more than two dozen states, low-income and elderly Americans would be offsetting the cost to taxpayers with out-of-pocket costs.
The study estimated that Colorado saved around $14.4 million in 2014 in Medicaid prescription spending because of its medical marijuana program.
The researchers noted that there could be some instances in which replacing FDA-approved treatments with medical marijuana could be harmful, but also wrote that the research has begun to dispute the DEA’s Schedule I classification of the drug as having no medical uses.
A study published earlier this month in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence also said states with legalized medical marijuana programs have seen fewer opioid-induced hospitalizations per capita than states with no program.
New U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recently compared marijuana to opioids and suggested the idea that medical marijuana could help some addicts recover is “stupid.”
“Medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much,” Sessions said.
The Washington Post reports that Sessions also said that he was “dubious” of medical marijuana and research that points to it being an alternative painkiller and treatment option for opioid addicts.
“I’ve heard people say we could solve our heroin problem with marijuana. How stupid is that? Give me a break.”
Eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana sales, but medical marijuana is legal in 28 states and D.C.
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Raids target multi-million dollar meth, cocaine ring tied to Mexico operating out of Aurora market
AURORA, Colo. – Police and federal drug enforcement agents raided a market and several houses in the Denver metro area Thursday morning in connection to a multi-million dollar cocaine and methamphetamine ring connected to Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Justice says nine arrests were made by Aurora police and federal agents Thursday, and another person was in custody ahead of the raids. But 17 people total have been indicted in the trafficking ring. The indictment carries 45 total counts and includes two house forfeiture complaints. Continue reading
Investigators retrieve marijuana plants from Coal Creek Canyon home where 3 were killed
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. – Investigators on Wednesday removed several marijuana plants from the home in Coal Creek Canyon where three people were found murdered over the weekend.
Boulder County officials said they could not release the information on how many plants were retrieved from the home or if they came from a legal grow operation, but had said at the onset of the investigation that it had to call in hazmat teams to clear the house because there was evidence of drug activity near the victims’ bodies.
The three were identified earlier this week as 54-year-old Wallace White and 56-year-old Kelly Sloat-White, both of Golden, and 39-year-old Emory Fraker, of Broomfield.
The crime scene was discovered early Saturday when a friend of the White family called deputies to perform a welfare check, and saw two bodies inside the home.
And while investigators have said they can’t release many details amid the ongoing investigation, they told Denver7 Wednesday they are still interviewing witnesses and analyzing evidence found at the scene.
They also told Denver7 that there were no calls for service to the home, which sits in the 800 block of Divide View Drive, over the past three years that the county’s records go back.
Authorities have yet to release any information about any potential suspects or a motive in the case. It’s unclear if federal drug authorities are involved at this time.
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Bill awaiting governor’s signature would allow Colo. counties to levy special sales tax on pot
DENVER – A bill now awaiting Gov. John Hickenlooper’s signature would allow Colorado counties to impose and collect on a special marijuana sales tax – an ode to an ongoing spat between Adams County and three cities within the county over a tax there.
The House on Monday concurred with changes made by the Senate to House Bill 1203, which has undergone several changes since it was first heard in the House Local Government Committee in early March.
The bill sent to the governor’s desk would allow counties to levy the special sales tax in unincorporated parts of the county without voter approval, but an agreement between cities within the county on how pot would be taxed and what the money would go to would have to be signed off on.
If a local municipality gets voter approval to levy its own special sales tax, it would invalidate the county’s tax levy unless the municipality came to the aforementioned intergovernmental agreement.
Under the bill, said intergovernmental agreements would also allow the parties to decide what percentage of the special sales tax would go to the county, and how much would go to each municipality undersigned on the agreement.
Finally, under the bill, if voters approve the special sales tax, the county or municipality would be able to put the tax money toward the county or municipality’s general fund, or to any other special fund created by said county or municipality.
The bill comes in response to a yearslong battle between Adams County and the cities of Northglenn, Aurora and Commerce City, which sued the county over a 3 percent special sales tax in 2015 that the three cities argued hadn’t been approved by voters.
The Adams County District Court ruled in September 2015 that the tax would be allowed, but that decision was reversed by the Colorado Court of Appeals in December. It could now be taken up by the Colorado Supreme Court.
The special sales tax funds go to the Adams County Scholarship Fund and is matched by the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Program. Both aim to give four-year scholarships to students who are part of free or reduced lunch programs.
Some sellers in the county argue that having a higher tax rate puts them at a competitive disadvantage.
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Lawyer: ‘New evidence’ shows Aurora botched 2014 marijuana license lottery
AURORA, Colo. – A Denver-area marijuana company says it has new evidence the city of Aurora and the city’s marijuana enforcement division didn’t give it fair treatment when it tried to get one of the city’s marijuana licenses in August 2014.
The suit by Visaj Unity, LLC, which operates as Metro Cannabis, was first filed in late 2014 after the company was denied one of the Aurora Ward 2 licenses to operate a cannabis shop. Metro Cannabis now operates at least three other dispensaries in the Denver area, which operate under the name Silver Stem Fine Cannabis.
At the time, Aurora was using a lottery process to determine which bids would get the four shops in the ward.
The lawsuit has maintained that Metro Cannabis had actually tied with another applicant, Mountain States Group I LLC (MSG), but that the city’s code and the Aurora Marijuana Enforcement Division (AMED) wouldn’t allow for a tiebreaker despite the tie.
And Metro Cannabis maintains in a new filing that it has proof that AMED created the tie in the first place by rounding up the other company’s score, which accounted for various proposals made by each company as to how they would operate their shop should they be granted a license.
That new evidence, attorney Bob Hoban claims, shows that one of three reviewers who was tasked with deciding businesses’ scores in the lottery was actually an Aurora employee and thus not an “independent reviewer.” Hoban claims that the Aurora employee’s involvement in the process means Metro Cannabis did not receive due process in its application being evaluated.
Hoban also says that the city of Aurora has admitted it made a mistake in rounding up MSG’s score, and that it has “steadfastly refused to correct its error.”
“It is not plausible to believe that each of these…data entry errors randomly happened to be outcome-determinative in the absence of any intentional manipulation of scores by the AMED,” Hoban wrote in his latest court filing.
He also claims that AMED showed bias toward the owners of Metro Cannabis, whom were investigated in 2009 by Greenwood Village police for possible discrepancies involving a medical caregiver operation, despite no charges ever being filed.
“It appears that the AMED decided that Visaj should not be granted a license even though the AMED’s rules did not allow the AMED to take away points or otherwise deny an application based on criminal charges that were dropped by the prosecuting agency,” the filing says.
It also says that instead of hiring an independent attorney to act as a hearing officer in license appeals, the city instead hired Jason Batchelor, who oversees AMED, to be the hearing officer in Metro Cannabis’s case.
“Aurora’s reticence to provide pertinent information before, during and after the Oct. 13, 2014 administrative hearing demonstrates a calculated effort to deny Visaj a meaningful opportunity to challenge denial of the license,” Hoban wrote.
And still, Hoban argues, the city is breaking its own rules that put a two-year limit on how long a license winner can sit on a license before it has to start building its new facility. The filing says 3LP, one of the companies that received a license at the time, still has not broken ground on the facility it proposed back then.
The filing claims that Aurora city code has no remedies to allay the problem, and claims violations of the Colorado Constitution in that the company was depraved of its due process.
“The city of Aurora admits it made a mistake, but because the Aurora code doesn’t say what to do in cases of such mistakes, they don’t have to fix it,” co-owner Stan Zislis said.
A jury trial in the case is set for next Monday, April 24 in Adams County District Court. A spokesperson for the city of Aurora says the city does not comment on pending litigation.
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Denver council to take up, hear public opinion on extending Denver pot store hours on Monday
DENVER – The first public hearing and city council discussion on a bill that would allow Denver’s marijuana shops to stay open until 10 p.m. are set to get underway at Monday evening’s council meeting.
The city council’s special marijuana issue committee tentatively approved the measure in early April that would add three hours to the time Denver medical and recreational marijuana shops are allowed to stay open.
Currently, Denver requires stores within its city limits to close at 7 p.m. Other nearby municipalities, like Glendale and Edgewood, let pot shops stay open until midnight. Shops in Aurora, Boulder and Commerce City are open until 10 p.m.
The original bill had proposed a midnight closing time, but that was amended by the marijuana committee after weeks of discussion with marijuana business owners, law enforcement and marijuana proponents.
The bill passed committee by 12-1 and 11-2 votes.
When the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, it said shops could be open from 8 a.m. until midnight each day, but it also allowed municipalities to determine the hours the shops would stay open.
And in 2015, the state allowed medical shops to stay open for the same hours as recreational shops.
Discussions to keep Denver’s shops open longer have been ongoing for years, but took a step forward in January, when the proposal first was discussed.
Proponents of extending shop hours have argued doing so would make the city more competitive with its neighbors, despite the city having raked in about half of last year’s sales statewide.
A Denver Post questionnaire done ahead of the last city council election found many of the current councilors said they would at least consider extending marijuana shop hours.
Monday’s council meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. The bill is likely to get another hearing before a final vote.
If you’d like to speak at the public hearing, sign up with the Council Secretary before 5 p.m. in Room 451 of the City and County building, or sign up during the council’s recess.
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Months after 2016 election, race for Colorado’s congressional districts in 2018 already heating up
DENVER – It’s been just over five months since the 2016 General Election, but two 2018 congressional races in Colorado are already heating up.
State Sen. Andy Kerr, a Democrat from Jefferson County, announced his bid for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District seat in an event a Dunstan Middle School in Lakewood – a school he attended years ago. Continue reading
Report: States with medical marijuana have lower opioid-related hospitalization rates
DENVER – A study published earlier this month in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence says states with legalized medical marijuana programs have seen fewer opioid-induced hospitalizations per capita than states with no program.
The study was authored by Yuyan Shi, an assistant professor at the University of California-San Diego, and looked at hospitalization records for marijuana and opioids in 27 states across the country from 1997 to 2014. Continue reading
Hickenlooper, governors of other pot-friendly states tell feds to consult them, not change Cole Memo
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday sent a letter – along with the governors of Alaska, Oregon and Washington – urging the Treasury and Justice Departments to talk with them before enacting any new federal enforcement rules or regulations on the legal marijuana industry.
The letter comes amid much uncertainty in the 28 states that have legalized either recreational or medical marijuana, and how new Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Treasury Department plan to enforce federal rules in those states. Continue reading
Colorado bills placing curbs on homegrown pot move ahead in Legislature
DENVER (AP) — The nation’s most generous grow-your-own marijuana laws came closer Monday to being curbed in Colorado, where the state House advanced a pair of bills aimed at cracking down on people who grow weed outside the commercial, taxed system.
One bill would set a statewide limit of 16 marijuana plants per house, down from a current limit of 99 plants before registering with state health authorities.
The bill passed 65-10 after sponsors argued that Colorado’s generous home-grown weed laws make it impossible to tell whether someone is growing plants legally, or whether the plants are destined for the black market.
Of the 28 states with legal medical marijuana, only Colorado currently allows more than 16 pot plants per home.
Many Colorado jurisdictions including Denver already have per-home plant limits, usually set at 12. But the lack of a statewide limit makes it difficult for police to distinguish between legitimate patients and fronts for black-market weed, bill supporters argued Friday.
“The time has come for us … to give law enforcement the guidance they need,” said Rep. Cole Wist, R-Centennial.
The other bill makes is a crime to grow recreational pot for someone else, effectively ending Colorado’s marijuana co-ops.
Legislative analysts have no estimate how many collective marijuana grows exist in Colorado, though they’re anecdotally popular with pot users who pool their economic resources to share the cost of electricity, water and fertilizer.
That bill cleared the House on an unrecorded voice vote, with one more vote required. It also sets aside some $6 million a year in marijuana tax money to give law enforcement more money to investigate illegal pot growing operations.
Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, but it has a nagging black-market problem.
Colorado’s marijuana amendment legalizing recreational use included language making it legal to “assist” anyone over 21 to grow their pot, making it difficult to stamp out large-scale marijuana growing operations in residential areas.
The bills advanced by the Colorado House this week would force those large-scale operations to move to areas that are not zoned residential.
The bills passed over the strenuous objections of some medical marijuana users, who argued that homegrown pot is a key component of Colorado’s pot system.
“They’re hurting the patients, is what they’re doing,” said Jennie Stormes, a Colorado Springs mother whose 17-year-old son has a type of Parkinson’s disease and has a caregiver grow the 48 plants recommended by her son’s doctor.
Stormes called the residential plant limit unnecessary because local zoning laws and her renters’ lease already ban her growing marijuana at home.
“It’s games they’re playing,” Stormes said after the vote. “I can treat my son with what he needs when he needs it when I’m doing the growing.”
But lawmakers sided with law enforcement complaints that the limits they called generous are impossible to enforce. The grants to give marijuana revenue to authorities under the bill would give priority funding to rural law enforcement agencies.
“This is a good start to begin to help our local jurisdictions,” said Rep. Terri Carver, R-Colorado Springs.
Gov. John Hickenlooper backs the reduction in how many plants can be grown in residential areas and has called on lawmakers to send him a statewide limit.
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