THE STATE
Colorado is first to issue medical cannabis licenses
California may hold the claim to being the first U.S. state to permit the medicinal use of marijuana, but Colorado is now first in the union to issue state medical-marijuana business licenses.
Eleven cannabis dispensaries have been issued licenses so far by the state’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, and at least seven more should be getting licenses soon, according to news reports. Compassionate-use advocates say the permits will help dispensaries show they have local approval for their operations—a requirement for the license—and might also help protect them from federal raids.
The 11 state licenses were issued to dispensaries in Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Littleton.
The first Colorado dispensary to receive the historic license was Dr. J’s in Denver, according to the Denver Post. The owner of the shop, Tom Sterlacci, was quoted as saying, “Now we’re not standing alone with the feds.”
Union effort pleases some, but not all
One of the nation’s largest labor unions has pushed into Colorado’s medical cannabis industry—to the delight of hundreds of dispensary employees and the consternation of some of their employers.
Operators of various Colorado cannabis shops had approached the United Food and Commercial Workers seeking representation. In September, some 8,000 employees at the shops voted to join the UFCW, a development which will bring the workers collective bargaining rights and other as-yet unspecified benefits.
The UCFW traditionally represents workers in the grocery and meat-packing industries, but recently launched a Medical Cannabis and Hemp Workers division to expand into the swelling medicinal marijuana market.
But according to press reports, a few high-profile cannabis shop operators are far from delighted with the union move, calling the move premature and risky.
One of those operators, edible company owner Jessica LeRoux of Twirling Hippy Confections, criticized the “in-development” aspect of the union’s contract with the workers. In a news article published Oct. 19, LeRoux called the UCFW’s sample contract presented to the workers “flashy but unrealistic,” and referred to a majority of the employees who voted for unionization as “uneducated young ding-dongs.”
The UCFW represents about 1.3 million workers in the U.S. and Canada.
Colorado to ask feds to reclassify marijuana
Marijuana’s federal classification as a Schedule I narcotic—a label officially declaring that the drug has no medical value and is as dangerous as heroin—is about to be called into question by the state of Colorado.
The 2010 legislation that established the regulatory framework for the state’s medical marijuana program also set a Jan. 1, 2012 deadline for the director of Colorado’s Department of Revenue to formally ask the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify medical marijuana as a Schedule II drug. Compassionate-use proponents cite such a change as an important first step toward federal recognition of cannabis, as it would acknowledge the drug has at least some medical benefits.
A spokesman for Revenue Department Director Barbara Brohl says she is aware of the requirement and that her plan for following the provision is “under development,” news reports say.
Along with marijuana, Schedule I controlled substances include heroin, LSD, GHB and mescaline. Schedule II drugs include cocaine, opium and morphine.
