Marijuana giveaways raise interesting questions
A new Colorado law OKs recreational use of pot, but selling it remains illegal. However, a loophole is prompting some questionable business practices.
Here's one way to increase foot traffic at your out-of-the-way store: offer a free gift of marijuana with every purchase of $30 or more.
That's the approach one Colorado “head shop” is taking. The Denver Post reports the shop recently put an ad on Craigslist in an effort to attract more customers to its relatively remote site near the city's Sports Authority Field at Mile High (insert your joke here).
"The marijuana is not for sale," the store's owner told the Post. "You're actually purchasing smoking accessories, tobacco, T-shirts, fine art. As a gift for them patronizing our store, we're giving them 2 grams of marijuana for free.... It's just an incentive."
The offer, and others like it, are also coming under scrutiny from both sides of the cannabis issue in Colorado. And it could have an impact on the future of marijuana sales elsewhere in the U.S.
Voters in the state passed Amendment 64 last November, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana by adults. You can also legally "gift" a certain amount of marijuana to someone else. But it's still illegal in Colorado to buy or sell cannabis for recreational purposes -- at least until next year, when communities can decide to allow or ban local retail pot shops.
Medical marijuana is already legal and a big business in Colorado, and this acceptance, along with the apparent legal loophole in Amendment 64 has, for the moment, encouraged others in the cannabis industry to try their luck with "free" pot.
A Colorado Springs delivery service recently came under law enforcement scrutiny for offering door-to-door marijuana deliveries in exchange for "suggested donation[s] towards researching [marijuana] and improving our cultivation operation,” according to the city's Independent newspaper,
Some cannabis-oriented clubs also offer free marijuana -- after you pay an admission fee.
Supporters of Amendment 64 say there's some legal backing for the concept of trading marijuana without "remuneration" for a service, donation or item.
But marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and local law enforcement officials in Colorado are wise to the game as well.
"If I show up at your house with less than an ounce of marijuana, I'm 21, you're 21, and I say, 'Hey dude, it cost me 50 bucks in gas to get over here,' and you give me 50 bucks for my gas, there's nothing illegal," Lt. Mark Comte with Colorado Springs Police told the Independent.
"I mean, you and I both know what's going on with it,” he said, “but they know what the loopholes are right now."
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FDA Patent number titled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
Please read all this that pertains to the diseases that Hemp will cure. Here is the link to that information. You could replace all pharaceuticals across the board with this medicine. Medicine people, not bad drugs as the government has suggested. They know of its healing powers and lie to you about them.
I love all mankind and everyone in the world deserves to know this TRUTH!. It will set you free people.
"The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced." Frank Zappa
"If a law is injust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so." Thomas Jefferson
"Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced." Albert Einstein
'Nuff said.
You mean there's a loophole. Sorta like Congress and The Government when it says you slave away doing this un-needed deed for yourself that only benefits the Government & the country the government wants to exist. For this paper money that we will then allow you to purchase the things you need & would of otherwise killed, cooked & probably took from the mouths of those in congress, much like the sweat the government steals off your own back. Yeah, still not quite that good of a loophole as they have on you.
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