Words by Ontoneyo Valenzuela
From The Source Magazine Issue #271 | 2016
CANNABIS LEGALIZATION IN COLORADO HAS CREATED A BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY. DENVER’S NOW ONE OF THE HOTTEST DESTINATION SPOTS IN AMERICA, BUT AT WHAT COST?
Like many travelers in the 1800s, Lewis Ralston rode the wagon trail west for California, the land he’d hoped to find prosperity and wealth in. Before he headed through the majestic, treacherous mountains that lie ahead of him, he stopped in Denver, Colorado to rest. While there, he took out his mining pan and dipped it into the Platte River. When he pulled it out he discovered five ounces of gold, and the Colorado Gold Rush of 1858 began.
Denver eventually became one of the biggest hubs in the U.S., connecting everything West of the Rocky Mountains to the gateway East through the Great Plains. People came by the thousands, and over the years billions of ounces of gold were found, towns grew in numbers and businesses thrived.
About half a mile from where Ralston found gold nuggets lies an historic red brick building that once served, and housed, those who sought fortune in the gold rush. It’s now the location of Platte Valley Dispensary, selling what today is affectionately known as “nugs” of Colorado’s finest marijuana.
Amendment 64 passed by an overwhelming margin in 2012, approving the commercial sale and recreational use of cannabis to start in 2014. And like that, Denver was once again the place to be.
“It’s been a tremendous success on all levels,” says Rob Corry, an attorney who graduated from Stanford two decades ago and had no idea he’d be a critical part in the success of the Amendment to regulate cannabis like alcohol.
Corry has unrelentingly defended marijuana possessions—and has himself been arrested—long before helping to draft legislation that would catapult Colorado into a modern age gold rush. “We (supporters) got a lot of things right and the nation is looking at us.”
By November 2015, Colorado had generated almost $900 million dollars in cannabis-related sales, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. This made instant millionaires of many prospectors, drove tourism through the roof and jolted steroids into the real-estate market. Zillow, one of the biggest online real-estate websites, recently listed Denver as one of the top housing markets in the country, with over 100 thousand people moving to Denver in 2015 alone.
Musa Bailey, co-owner of one of Denver’s most popular bars, Cold Crush, and one of the city’s most popular DJs, says the cannabis industry has changed the landscape of the nightlife and attracted musicians from all over the world. “It’s busy five nights a week, and it’s different people every night,” Bailey. “People from everywhere.”
Which hasn’t been so good for natives and long-time residents, as rental rates have jumped up 11.9 percent in just the last year, and historic neighborhoods like the North Denver Highlands and the East Denver Five-Points District has experienced extreme gentrification.
Francois Baptiste, the owner of 3Deep Promotions who promotes the biggest urban events for Live Nation and AEG and has worked in the Colorado music industry for over 15 years, also expresses those sentiments. “Denver is a destination spot now. There’s an added bonus of coming here. We went from having one major show every three or four months, to seven in the next month alone.
“It’s like Woodstock out here, people come and have a great time. The only thing is you have to do with artists is remind them even though it’s like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, you have to pace yourself. You can’t eat all the edibles, drink the drinks and smoke all the blunts, because you’re not going to make it to the stage,” laughs Baptiste.
Major artists like Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and Willie Nelson have already worked with dispensaries to bring consumers exclusive strains and smoking products, adding to the incredible list of items already for sale on the shelves in dispensaries.
“They’ve managed to put weed in everything: popcorn, pretzels, adult oils, gummy bears, bath soaps, hard candy, butter, ice cream, granola, you name it and they’ve done it,” says dispensary manager Trevor Jacques, who carries over 30 different strains of marijuana, both medical and recreational, at anytime.
Special guests from Dave Chappelle to Kid Capri are visiting daily, and the nightlife is thriving in almost every genre. Despite major successes like the Lumineers, Pretty Lights and The Flobots originating from Denver, the Hip Hop scene has still yet to produce one superstar. One reason Mike Gomez, whose Fogo Management handles the careers of locally-known rappers Hypnautic and King Tef, believes is the lack of support from local media plus discrimination.
“The radio stations (in Denver) are not a cultural function like those in other cities are,” Gomez says. “They’re owned by Entercom, which is a business. The only way someone can break through is to become a national act—but if you can’t get local support, how can you become a national act? Denver’s an amazing place if you’re a rock artist, blues, bluegrass; anything but rap. It’s the number one market for rap and has no local scene to support it.”
Baptiste, who works directly with the visiting national acts, says promoters are putting local artists on, relationships are being made and rappers are getting access to major acts. “One of the things we’re really trying to do is tie in the local support aspect to some of these shows. Local music is benefiting of it as well. If can get three artists on these show, that’s visibility. The rest is up to them.”
The fact is more people are making the journey to the Mile High City and this overall has been a great catalyst for jobs and growth. Governor John Hickenlooper, who first opposed the passing of the law, touted Denver’s economy and job creation in his 2016 State of the Union address. ”We’ve come a long way in the last five years. From budget shortfalls, a stagnant economy and nine percent unemployment, Colorado now has one of the best economies in the nation.”
There are, however, negatives of this cornucopia of cannabis. Over-regulation and the verbiage surrounding public consumption are some of the obvious areas, but under-publicized effects of greed and institutional discrimination are also growing problems.
Saturation
Colorado boasts to having more dispensaries than Starbucks, and the issue of saturation has been one point of focus as of late. Despite the high number of suppliers, many believe over-saturation isn’t a problem.
Mike Dunafon, the Mayor of Glendale, a small city east of Denver, says crony capitalism could be one of the biggest issues going forward. “People who were pot entrepreneurs, I’m watching them start to take each other down. They have to pay attention not to become what they hated in the past. It’s becoming a war of attrition between some growers and retailers.”
On January 7, the Denver City Council met to discuss extending the 120-day moratorium, barring new retailers from getting in the game, even though Amendment 64 is touted to regulate cannabis like alcohol, a point City Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman harked on during the meeting. “I’m wondering why we’re singling out the demand-supply question for marijuana and what do we do about alcohol? Because there’s a black market for alcohol, there’s a black market for cigarettes. Do we have any regulatory (policies) that if they produce more alcohol then we start clamping down on liquor stores?”
It’s a point Mayor Dunafon echoes. “Crony capitalists will go out and get lobbyists and get government to stop the new guy from getting in, as opposed to when it was considered criminal and the police were going to knock down your door. Everyone was galvanized to fight together against the man.”
“I don’t think we’re saturated,” adds Corry. “If you visit most of the shops, they sell what they produce and some of them have empty shelves. The wholesale price is still pretty high, the margins are solid and the demand is stripping the supply. We’re not saturated and won’t be for a very long time. Keep in mind this is a product you purchase and use, and purchase more. The customer base has expanded and adults who maybe didn’t use before are now choosing to over alcohol.”
Crime
The Denver Police released statistics of both arrest for possession and violent crimes relating to marijuana on January 11. The numbers showed crime related to the industry has slightly increased, with violent crimes up to 176 convictions in 2014 and 193 in 2015. Although violent crime related to marijuana hasn’t spiked Denver has experienced a rise in murder, with over 50 homicides in 2015, the highest rate since 2006.
Arrests made for unlawful distribution and cultivation are up 11 percent as well, from 1503 in 2014 to 1666 in 2015. The actual numbers of illegal possession are virtually the same for 2014 and 2015, but Denver Police claim they have proof the market is oversaturated and are due to produce that evidence in the near future.
Obviously not everyone in Colorado has been happy about the legislation. Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith was the lead plaintiff, along with half a dozen other sheriffs from Kansas and Nebraska, in a lawsuit against the state in March 2015.
Smith doesn’t think he is anti-marijuana, despite his lawsuit. “What I’m taking is a pro-constitution stance,” says Smith. “If it doesn’t follow the constitution, then it’s not valid. What we’re coming down to is maybe, just maybe, this was done in a method that didn’t follow the constitution.”
Many see the criminalization of marijuana as an old paradigm. “The drug war is over and the prisoners need to be set free,” says Corry. “It’s sad someone who once made a mistake cannot work in the industry. They may’ve had a marijuana conviction but now they can’t use those skills in a legal fashion? It’s discrimination.”
Public Consumption
When the law was passed, one part that was conceded to the opposition was the public consumption of cannabis, specifically when it pertains to bars, clubs and public establishments. So despite the many meme’s that go around online, there’s not a “Pot-Palladium” movie theater. No hash bars or public consumption places are currently operating. It’s actually the opposite; the only place you can “legally” consume is in a home. So smokers and tourists are relegated to private clubs and a few tolerant businesses that turn a blind eye.
“There’s just going to be too many people here who want to smoke for there not to be places or establishments friendly towards that,” says Bailey, whose bar’s in one of the most popular neighborhoods in Denver. “It’s a safety issue too. You don’t just want people to smoke wherever, walking around or in their car.”
“I do see that changing,” says Corry.“There are hundreds of bars, hundreds of places you can consume alcohol that’s not your home. It should be the same thing for marijuana and we’re going to correct this problem moving forward as a state.”
“The individual has to have the courage and the self-respect to understand we live in a society full of people,” says Mayor Dunafon, who sees the issue as a matter of local jurisdictions, and counties left to police public consumption as they see fit. “Someone is more likely to be a jackass with a beer in their hand than a vape pen.”
Hemp
Lost in the shuffle over cannabis’ recreational use is what many believe to be the real reason Samuel Caldwell and Moses Baca were the first victims of the prohibition of marijuana in 1938 (which ironically was in Denver)—to stop the production of hemp, marijuana’s non-psychoactive cousin, which is likely to be more lucrative than marijuana.
Hemp is classified as any cannabis plant with less than .3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Cultivation and production was the third leg of the historic law, along with commercial sale and recreational use. While leading the nation with the recreational use, Colorado has barely started to touch the industry of hemp, which can be used to create over 60 thousand textiles including food and construction products.
The Department of Agriculture announced last year they’re allowing two registrations for hemp: Research and Development and Commercial. The Whole Hemp Company, as an example, plans to have a 35,000 square foot greenhouse. Since registration has started the hemp industry has occupied over 2,000 acres of land. This is a number that will continue to skyrocket in the next few years by the Rocky Mountain Association of Hemp, who claims hemp grows increased over 1000 percent in 2015.
The story about Colorado’s progress in regulating cannabis is complex and ongoing, and will be watched by those who wish to use the state as example to pass or deter legislation. Regulating cannabis has created jobs, fixed the state’s economic woes and inflated population almost instantly. The impact will be, and needs to continue to be, discussed because the financial implications are too great to ignore and cannabis could soon leave prohibition in history, much like alcohol once did.