On Wednesday at 7.30AM, Mason Tvert, co-director of the campaign to legalise marijuana in Colorado, was speaking at a press conference held just before the state’s first ever legal recreational pot sale. “The media keeps describing what’s starting today as an experiment,” he explained, “when the real experiment was actually marijuana prohibition, an experiment that failed terribly, just like the so-called ‘great experiment‘ known as alcohol prohibition.”
Mason’s comparison served as the theme of Tuesday night’s New Year’s Eve cannabis industry fundraiser for the Rocky Mountain Hemp Association. It was a high-class affair that featured elaborately costumed flappers and bootleggers, plus oversized newspaper clippings from the day back in 1933 when Denver’s taverns finally re-opened to the public. One anti-prohibition Denver Post editorial of that era called on status-quo lawmakers to “turn over a new leaf”.
Just before midnight struck, I caught up with Susan Squibb, newly hired as the Post’s first-ever marijuana advice columnist. In pot terms, Squibb has paid her dues. Previously author of the “Ask Lady Cannabis” column in a local weed-culture newspaper, Squibb actually first started dispensing marijuana advice during a six-year run selling hemp ice-cream sandwiches from an officially licensed stand inside Red Rock’s Amphitheater in Golden, Colorado.
Read more from my interview and follow David through his January 1st legal marijuana purchase here. The three part series is a great read!