12:00 noon, April 30, 2012, was a momentous occasion at 4201 East 72nd Street in Commerce City, Colorado. The Adams County Sheriff Department gave a man marijuana.
In January of 2011, a SWAT team and group of detectives descended upon Josh Jones' Westminster home to find 140 marijuana plants and confiscated 2.5 pounds. He was charged with Felony Cultivation and Felony Possession. Josh Jones was a patient caregiver under Colorado's medical marijuana laws.
A year and $100,000 dollars of taxpayer monies later, the trial first ended in a mistrial based on the fact that the Drug Task Force was withholding police reports. Finally, late Thursday, April 26, a jury delivered their "not guilty" verdict to the Jefferson County District Court judge.
Ahead of a scheduled speech by President Obama on Colorado's CU Boulder campus, a press conference is being held by the National Cannabis Industry Association to ask the nation's leader to call off the federal crackdown on the marijuana industry.
Aaron Smith, executive director of the NCIA, hopes to remind President Obama about his prior statements that the marijuana industry was not a priority of his administration, and that he'd leave decisions on legality up to the states.
The conference is being held right now at The Hill Cannabis Club and Wellness Center.
A quick update on the CU Boulder happenings: an emergency request was filed yesterday to block the university's plan to lock the campus down and turn away all non-student and faculty visitors for the day.
Filed yesterday (4/19) morning, six non-student residents of Boulder - Rob Smoke, Timothy Tipton, Jack Branson, Katherine Cummins, Evan Ravitz and Tom Cummins - filed the lawsuit in hopes of being allowed to "exercise (their) constitutional rights of free speech and free association". The plantiffs were represented by Denver attorney Robert Correy.
The Denver Post reports that Boulder District Judge Andrew Macdonald denied the lawsuit late Thursday evening.
The latest: a student group at CU Boulder is protesting the school's officially-unsanctioned 4/20 Smoke-Out. The "anti-4/20" group calls the Smoke-Out a "disgrace," and is asking students to wear suits and ties to class and around town tomorrow.
CU Boulder has a long tradition of the unsanctioned event; last year, so many visitors showed up that it prompted the university to take drastic measures - pledging to ticket ralley-goers at the Norlin Quad, arrest tresspassers on campus, and shovel attention and funds into a Wyclef Jean concert at the Coors Event Center.
The Anti-4/20 Facebook event titled "Stay Classy CU" is the brainchild of Andrew Trujillo, and as of now, has 639 people slated to attend.
Trujillo has stated that the event is not against the legalization of marijuana - but against students recreationally smoking in public - which gives current and future employers a negative view of CU Boulder and its students.
