KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS NEWS Highs and Lows TEN STORIES THAT DEFINE COLORADO’S RELATIONSHIP WITH CANNABIS. BY THOMAS MITCHELL Has it been almost ten years? The sky hasn’t fallen, and Taco Bell hasn’t yet won the fast- food wars. November 2022 will mark a decade since Colorado voters offi cially legalized recre- ational pot sales, yet our state’s relationship with cannabis has grown in dog years, going from a Wild West of unregulated weed sales in 2013 to clearing $2.2 billion in taxable revenue in 2021. Colorado’s connection to cannabis extends much further back than a decade, however, and the state’s role in plant- based medicine reaches far beyond cannabis. With 4/20 nearing, it seemed like a good time to look back, recalling lessons for how we could move forward. Here are ten stories that defi ne Colorado’s connection to cannabis: Colorado’s Real First in Marijuana Over 85 years before Colorado legalized can- nabis, the state was home to the country’s fi rst arrests under the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Considered the country’s fi rst legislative act against cannabis, the Marihuana Tax Act placed a tax on the sale of cannabis and forced suppliers to register and record their sales. The $1 tax stamp applied to buyers and sellers for each transaction, but aimed to cut out recreational use. “In principle, the Mari- 8 huana Tax Act of 1937 stopped only the use of the plant as a recreational drug. In practice, though, indus- trial hemp was caught up in anti-dope legislation, mak- ing hemp importation and commercial production in this country less economi- cal. Scientifi c research and medical testing of mari- juana also virtually disap- peared,” reads an account from the United States De- partment of Homeland Security. The Marihuana Tax Act still allowed some medical marijuana sales within the country, and was largely promoted as an effort to crack down on street dealers and addictive drug use. But the measure was op- posed by the American Medical Association, which felt the tax would suppress medical marijuana. Even so, Congress passed the bill on October 1, 1937, and Den- ver’s place in cannabis history was cemented soon after. Police arrested Moses Baca and Samuel Caldwell on October 5 for violating the new federal law, according to a Denver Post article, with Caldwell alleg- edly selling Baca a whopping two joints on a Tuesday night. Caldwell was sentenced to four years and Baca to eighteen months at Leavenworth Prison. “Marijuana destroys life. I have no sympathy for those who sell this weed,” U.S. District Judge J. Foster Symes reportedly said at the time of their sentencing. Although the federal ar- rests under the act took place in Colorado, the state legisla- ture had outlawed cannabis two decades earlier. In 1917, Colorado lawmakers made the use and cultivation of cannabis a misdemeanor, upgrading it to a felony in 1929. Attendees celebrate in front of the Colorado State Capitol during the 2014 420 Rally. Medical Marijuana While Colorado voters approved medical marijuana with the passage of Amendment 20 in 2000, the state had made several moves in that direction in the 1970s. At the begin- ning of a short-lived rise in the plant’s ac- ceptance, Colorado lawmakers downgraded recreational cannabis possession from a and Colorado eventually decriminalized the possession, transportation and private use of marijuana in 1975. Medical research pointing toward the plant’s effectiveness in treating certain illnesses began surfacing in the 1970s, as well, and the country’s support for medical marijuana and cannabis decriminalization rose nearly 15 percent in the middle of the decade. Colorado passed bills in 1979 and The University of Colorado Boulder’s days as a 4/20 destination were short-lived, but glorious for the cannabis crowd, seen here in 2010. felony to a misdemeanor in 1970. A 1972 report from the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse recommended that penalties for possession and adult use be terminated altogether, and Republican state representative Michael Strang even tried to legalize it outright in Colorado a year later. Strang’s effort failed, but cannabis was begin- ning to fi nd more sympathizers in the state, 1981 that allowed certain medical patients to be prescribed marijuana, but both were dependent on federal approval. Public sup- port for cannabis began dropping again in the early ’80s, however, and the opposition stayed fi rm for about fi fteen years. Then California voters approved the use, cultiva- tion and sale of medical marijuana in 1996. Eight states had followed suit by 2000, including Colorado. It wasn’t an easy ride, though. A push to legalize medical marijuana in 1998 was squashed by then-Secretary of State Vikki Buckley, who said the measure didn’t have enough signatures to get on the ballot in the fi rst place, and refused to count the votes that election. Proponents were suc- cessful two years later, however, with Amend- ment 20 receiving 54 percent of the vote. In 2001, Congress passed legislation bar- ring the U.S. Department of Justice from using federal funds to interfere with state- legal medical marijuana pro- grams, giving more breathing room to patients and their caregivers. The caregiver model and looser federal enforcement enabled des- ignated cannabis growers to cultivate plants for registered patients who were unable to grow their own. This cre- ated a home-growing land- scape across Colorado that planted the seeds for stores that would serve as caretak- ers for multiple patients, “dispensing” their medicine. In 2009, U.S. Deputy At- torney General David Ogden issued a legal memorandum for U.S. attor- neys regarding how to approach states with legal cannabis, suggesting that they take a hands-off approach toward complying businesses. Shortly after the release of the Ogden Memo, medical marijuana dispensa- ries began popping up all over metro Denver, partnering with patients who registered the dispensaries as continued on page 10 APRIL 14-20, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com KYLE HUNINGHAKE FLICK/ZACH DISCHNER
