Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: CannaBiz
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Griffin Swartzell

HEMP STORE TO OPEN, JAMAICAN ALLIANCE MADE

Hemp from Granny

A pair of Park County paramedics are bringing hemp back. Karen Kinne 
and JoDee Weaver will soon open Colorado's first cultivation and 
retail hemp store, Granny's High Altitude Super Hemp (38321 Hwy. 24, 
Lake George).

"The [state] Department of Agriculture is just so excited for the 
hemp industry to come back," says Kinne. "It was a huge industry all 
the way up to the '50s. It was shut down when marijuana was 
classified as a Class I drug, and hemp went with it."

Legalized hemp production returned with Amendment 64 in 2012, and 
2014 marked the first year of state-authorized cultivation of the 
plant, which is defined as cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC. 
The Agriculture Department had 130 registered hemp growers in the 
state as of December, but no retail hemp stores before Granny's.

Kinne says she and Weaver got into the business to work on the 
medical side, using CBD and cannabinol (CBN) extracts - think low-THC 
Charlotte's Web and its use as a treatment for seizures. Kinne also 
notes CBD and CBN are good for pain.

"As paramedics, we saw a lot of narcotics abused, intentionally and 
unintentionally," says Kinne. "We wanted to offer a product to give 
them another route, so to speak."

When Granny's opens March 21, its stock will include CBD oil 
cartridges and e-cigarettes (for customers 18 and up), but also 
essential oils, soaps, clothing, food and drinks - all made from 
hemp. Kinne says the department's agents will be visiting to make 
sure her hemp is up to standards. As for the general public, she and 
Weaver hope to offer tours of their all-organic growing facilities, 
Mozart and all - their plants listen to classical music from seed to 
cultivation.

"We've found with research that plants respond well to classical 
music," says Kinne. "Their CBD levels increase, as does their growth rate."

Roots research

Denver-based Ganja Labs, USA has teamed up with the University of 
Technology Jamaica (UTech), according to the Jamaica Observer. The 
plan, outlined in a memorandum of understanding, is to build a lab 
and greenhouse for research on MMJ in Jamaica. Long-term, the 
facility will act as a resource for the local industry.

"This collaboration will allow us to determine different unique 
marijuana strains that can be produced in the Jamaican environment, 
potentially enlarging the internationally recognized brand Jamaica," 
Dr. Claire Sutherland, UTech's senior director of international and 
institutional linkages, told the Observer. She added, "This 
partnership will ultimately have a positive influence on the 
livelihood and knowledge of small rural farmers by making knowledge 
of international best practices and standards available to them in 
this emerging legal environment and regulated industry in Jamaica."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom