WEED REGULATIONS
DENVER (AP) – Marijuana potency in Colorado won’t be limited – but consumers should know how strong pot is before they buy it. That’s the recommendation Monday from a task force suggesting regulations on pot. Voters in Colorado decided last year to allow recreational pot, and Colorado is now figuring out how to regulate it. Regulators say marijuana potency can’t be capped. Instead, they recommended potency labels that include the relative amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot.
Colorado lawmakers will ultimately decide the state’s marijuana regulations. The task force is also debating consumer safety regulations including pesticide limits and how to label edible marijuana to prevent accidental overdoses.
COLORADO GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE THREATENED
DENVER (AP) – Denver police arrested a man suspected of threatening a Democratic state lawmaker who’s sponsoring gun bills to expand background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines. Police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez says 42-year-old Franklin Sain was arrested Friday on suspicion of harassment and attempting to influence a public official. He’s been released on $30,000 bail. Lopez says Sain is suspected of sending emails and leaving a voicemail for Aurora Rep. Rhonda Fields. Lopez would not elaborate on the threats.
The Colorado State Patrol says they’re providing extra security for Fields, who represents the district where the theater shooting happened last summer. Fields said in a statement Monday that she won’t be deterred by threats.
PITCO KAYAK PARK DEBATE
BASALT (AP) – Opposition is mounting over Pitkin County’s efforts to obtain a water right for a kayak park on the Roaring Fork River in Basalt. The Colorado Water Conservation Board, two major upstream diverters and three billionaires with property near Aspen have filed opposition to the plan.
The county is seeking the right to run large volumes of water over two rock and concrete structures it plans to build in the river. The county could demand that holders of junior water rights stop diverting water and instead send the water downstream to the kayak park.
BUTTERMILK EXPANSION
ASPEN (AP) – The redevelopment of the base of the Buttermilk ski resort has been put on hold while the Aspen Skiing Co. negotiates with the state Department of Transportation to buy a piece of land to complete the plan. Skico submitted its master plan for the base of Buttermilk last March and it was reviewed by Pitkin County’s planning commission in June, where access and transit issues were raised. C-DOT has indicated a willingness to sell. Negotiations began after planners realized that the state owns a 60-foot-wide strip in between the county-owned parking lot and the ski company’s property.
