A Visit to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain High

When I visited Colorado from out of state, even just walking into the marijuana retail store felt as though I were doing something a bit naughty and just the wrong side of legal—like slipping under the bolted gates of the “closed at dusk” park, showing an older sister’s ID to get into the local nightclub, or sneaking into an R movie at the age of 16. It’s how I’ve always felt it would be to go to Amsterdam’s Red Light District—legal there, but not in my world.

But, because it was all part of my editorial research, I straightened my back, took a breath, and walked in. After showing my ID to the security guard (and noticing that everything I did from that point on was being caught on video), I surreptitiously perused the THC-infused cookies, chocolates, drinks, and, yes, pot brownies that hung behind a counter tended by “budtenders.” But when I wandered toward the pot plants sitting beneath grow lights in a recessed niche and was asked if I wanted to see any particular breed, I skittered back as though I’d been caught in that “closed at dusk” park by a cop’s blinding search beam.

It is a very strange feeling to legally do something that is also illegal, and it is that very fact that is making this rapidly growing industry of recreational marijuana (now legal in Colorado and Washington) as cumbersome as it is profitable.

Some of the rules are stringent, such those of Colorado that require:

• To enter retail stores (termed dispensaries because of their initial purpose as medical outlets) you have to be 21 and show ID while state-mandated and accessible video cameras watch everything.
• Recreational-use and medical-use marijuana products are separately maintained and sold.
• The supply chain is strictly tracked and traced with legal status extended only to registered growers, manufacturers, and retailers.
• No marijuana can cross state lines.

Some of the rules are fuzzy or in constant flux:

• Manufacturers, such as Dixie Elixirs & Edibles featured in this issue (page 12), are legally producing marijuana-infused foods. Well, sort of—because it’s federally illegal, neither USDA nor FDA food laws apply, so the states and the manufacturers are working through food safety issues as they go.
• Businesses can still restrict or allow use: The NFL has banned marijuana consumption for on-site fans and tailgaters, and some Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks players were slapped with marijuana-related suspensions—although consumption is legal in their states. On the other hand, the Colorado Symphony held three “Classically Cannabis” invitation-only fundraising events this summer at which attendees could use marijuana “as is their right under Colorado law.”
   

As of this writing, Colorado legislatures were reconsidering regulations on taxation and grower limits; the state had recently issued a new requirement for warning labels on edibles; Washington banned use in charter and excursion vehicles citing them as being “in view of the general public” where consumption is not legal; and neighboring states are attempting to deal with spillover of Colorado and Washington legalization.

I was initially hesitant to propose a QA article on “The Food Safety Aspects of THC-Infused Foods” to my publisher. But my research had shown there to be a significant story that would not only interest and intrigue readers just because of the topic, but would be of value in its discussion of the development of food safety and quality in a federally unregulated segment of our industry. And I’m truly glad I overcame that reticence, as I will always see this visit, its accompanying research, and resulting article as a highlight of my career. And I, for one, will definitely continue to track the evolution of these entrancing elixirs and edibles.