Multiple marijuana grow sites in an industrial area of Denver were raided this week as part of an investigation into illegal pot sales in Minnesota, The Denver Post reports.
Though authorities said little about the raids, which took place Tuesday, sources told Denver Post staffers that the case involved people who came from Minnesota to Colorado. Minnesota has a restrictive medical marijuana program.
Staff writers Jesse Paul, Noelle Phillips and John Ingold report:
The raided building on North Bryant Street is in an industrial area popular with state-legal commercial marijuana growers and, increasingly, illegal growers trying to hide among them. The raided address was once home to the grow operation for a medical-marijuana products business, state records show, but it is unclear whether the business is still there.
Cannabis industry insiders said they believe the address is now occupied by people claiming to be medical-marijuana caregivers — smaller-scale providers that operate with less scrutiny.
The New York Times has a couple of marijuana stories worth a look, including this one on how pot use plays out at the University of Colorado. Staff writers Abigail Sullivan Moore and Julie Turkewitz tell the story of a 22-year-old psychology major who buys medical marijuana in Colorado and sells it on the black market.
They write:
Some of Zach’s clients are under 21 and cannot buy recreational cannabis legally. But others are older students who simply don’t want to pay the hefty tax — three times that levied on medical marijuana. So despite the abundance of recreational cannabis products since the first retail shops opened in January, there is still a vibrant black market for medical marijuana, which has been legal in Colorado since 2001 with a doctor’s recommendation.
“There’s definitely still the demand,” says Zach, who is on track to graduate in December. He makes anywhere from a few dollars to a thousand a month, depending on how much he hustles, but he says that overall sales have declined a bit, what with retail shops, student growers and all the medical cards.
In this NYT story, Abigail Moore reports on research into marijuana and the brain:
For the Harvard-Northwestern study, published in the April issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, the team scanned the brains of 40 young adults, most from Boston-area colleges. Half were nonusers; half reported smoking for one to six years and showed no signs of dependence. Besides the seven light smokers, nine used three to five days a week and four used, on average, daily. All smokers showed abnormalities in the shape, density and volume of the nucleus accumbens, which “is at the core of motivation, the core of pleasure and pain, and every decision that you make,” explained Dr. Hans Breiter, a co-author of the study and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern’s medical school.
Another good read: Los Angeles Times staff writer Evan Halper reports on the “teetering” legalization efforts in Oregon, Alaska and Florida. (Florida votes on medical marijuana next week.)
“This is turning out to be a unique and very difficult election year,” said Aaron Houston, a strategist for the Ghost Group, a marijuana-focused investment company. Ballot measures, he said, are under stress from the same midterm challenge afflicting all political forces on the left and their causes: an uninspired base of voters.
But advocates acknowledge that some voters are also wary of how legalization has worked in Colorado and Washington. Legalization has not set off crime sprees in those states or a surge in stoned drivers crashing on roadways, as opponents had warned, but there have been plenty of less-than-favorable headlines about marijuana-infused candies and sodas and tourists going on drug binges.
And in case you missed it: Blue Dream is most popular strain among Portland pot consumers, while Trainwreck rules in Eugene.
– Noelle Crombie
Marijuana news: Denver police, feds raid marijuana grow operations
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