Marijuana businesses are still fighting off high-level scammers, according to the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, which recently sent out a third warning to the state's pot industry about "intensifying instances" of fraud.
Of course, no pot-calypse has taken place in these parts. But as evidenced in a March report from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the feds still have great antipathy for Colorado cannabis. References to the state s legalization of the product in the annual National Drug Threat Assessment are filled with heavy-handed invective and warnings about how crime organizations are using local standards for their own nefarious purposes.
Marijuana is only one of many topics discussed in the NDTA, with fentanyl, whose impact on Coloradans has been growing in truly troubling ways, among the substances spotlighted. A supplement to the assessment by the DEA s Denver field division points out the state s significant increase in the trafficking of illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine compared to previous years. With the increase in availability of fentanyl and methamphetamine, drug-poisoning and overdose-related deaths have risen significantly. The Denver metro area alone saw fentanyl-related
Recreational marijuana sales had another record year in 2020, so it s not surprising that cash-strapped causes are looking at cannabis taxes as a way to raise revenues. Now a new ballot initiative proposed by a group of state legislators and public-education support groups calls for adding another 5 percent tax on marijuana sales to fund a learning-enrichment program that would provide tutoring and after-school education services for Colorado children.
Supporters of the proposed Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress (LEAP) program want to see lower- and middle-income parents of Colorado school-aged kids to receive an annual stipend of around $1,500 per child for out-of-school learning services, including after-school programs, individual tutoring and specialized after-school learning classes. In its first year, an estimated $90 million of the proposed $150 million program would come from marijuana sales.
At a Denver City Council subcommittee meeting this week, councilmembers discussed proposals not only for delivery and hospitality programs, but for extending the online ordering and walk-up and drive-thru systems that were introduced at dispensaries during the pandemic.
Some Colorado dispensary owners estimate that online and to-go sales now account for nearly half of their customer transactions, and have expressed a desire to keep several of the new systems after the pandemic ends. The state Marijuana Enforcement Division has agreed with dispensary owners regarding to-go sales, but notes that a legislative change would be required to continue allowing online ordering at dispensaries, which is currently banned by state law; a bill proposed in the Colorado Legislature would make that change.
After over a decade of banning dispensaries, Grand Junction voters will decide whether or not to opt into retail marijuana during a citywide election April 6.