The state health board rejects a caregiver cap but says parents got the marijuana oil against the law.

The Colorado Board of Health on Tuesday rejected a proposal to cap the number of patients that medical-marijuana caregivers can serve. Photos by Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post Lonnie and Sandy Phillips on Tuesday address the media at Arnold& Porter LLP in Denver, where they announced a suit against four ammunition sellers. Their daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was killed in the theater massacre.

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The case was as sad and as tragic as we've seen in metro Denver in recent memory.

A man, supposedly stoned on marijuana-infused candy, flipped out and killed his wife with a gunshot to the head while their three children were in their Observatory Park house. Or so the story goes.

Yet, recent court testimony from cops was that Richard Kirk had "low" THC levels, a psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, when tested five hours after the shooting. How in the world does that square with a guy who was said to be hallucinating and subsequently asked his 7year-old son to kill him?

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No One Wants to Roll Out the Idea Until Assurances Are Made.

Despite 11th-hour success at pressing Colorado legislators to pass a measure that would allow the marijuana industry to create the world's first pot-banking cooperative, no one has officially attempted to create one.

Even with the flurry of international publicity that swirled last spring around the groundbreaking effort-one that theoretically would allow pot businesses to band together and form their own banking entity - there has been lukewarm interest in giving it a try without first knowing it's not a useless effort.

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When CannaSearch job fair debuted in Denver in March, just a few months after legal recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado, organizers were overwhelmed by more than 1,200 job seekers, many from out of state.

When the second CannaSearch takes over event space Mile High Station on Tuesday-with employers offering more than 500 positions in Colorado's still-growing marijuana industry-it will be an expanded event that hopes to better serve applicants and businesses alike.

In addition to the larger digs, food trucks will be on site for lunch. And the job fair, running 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and free for job seekers, is bookended by ticketed events: an executive breakfast from 7:30-9 a.m. ($50) and an evening reception from 6-9 p.m ($15).

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Dear Stoner: What is the alphabet soup that follows marijuana around? I know THC is what gets me high, but what about CBD, CBN, THCV, CBA, CBS, ESPN and all of the other things in pot? What do they do?

Confused in Commerce City

Dear Confused: You might have a few of the names wrong, but we'll help you out as best we can. CBD is shorthand for cannabidiol, one of the other major chemical compounds aside from THC that is found in pot. CBD has a lot of good things going for it. It doesn't really get you high, but it has anti-inflammatory properties, can help reduce the effects of THC for people who don't want to get stoned but need the medical benefit, and it also has some very strong anti-seizure properties - which is why it has become such a popular medication for children suffering from severe epileptic conditions. People are now also using high-CBD strains developed in Israel to help treat arthritis, liver inflammation and heart diseases.

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The numbers are compelling. As Americans seek more relief from pain and companies come up with ever-stronger drugs to ease discomfort, so do mortality rates rise for the growing number of patients who use opioid pain relievers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 46 people a day die from opioid overdoses. More people - - 16,000 or so - die from opioid misuse than from any illegal drugs in any given year.

Opioids, psychoactive chemicals that resemble morphine or other opiates in their pharmacological effects, are among the oldest medicines mankind has used.

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U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has strong words for Colorado's Don't Be a Lab Rat campaign, which encourages teens to reconsider marijuana use via oversized rat cage installations and strongly worded commercial messaging.

"It's a bizarre, ill-fated campaign," Polis said Wednesday. "I think they need to go back to the drawing board on that one."

The lab-rat campaign's cages and messaging were met with mixed reactions when they debuted in August. But the state looks at the campaign as a success.

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Recent surveys of where pot smokers in Colorado acquire marijuana are proving to be a bit of a downer.

One of the more appealing aspects of legalizing private use of small amounts of marijuana was reducing the need for an underground drug black market, with its accompanying criminal aspect.

However, information made public recently by the Marijuana Policy Group estimates that some 40 percent of pot smokers here still buy through illegal means because of the high cost of legal pot.

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If two votes are good ...

Though Palmer Lake voters rejected recreational-marijuana stores in April, 538 to 481, residents will get another crack at the issue this November. Two cracks actually, as two questions will deal with the plant.

The first would allow retail sales, with limitations on the number of stores; the inclusion of a "good neighbor" plan; restrictions on hours and locations as decided by a committee made up of supporters and opponents; a special 6-percent sales tax; and the creation of a Palmer Lake emergency account that all related monies would fund.

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In July, for the first time in Colorado's legal marijuana market, recreational cannabis outsold medical pot, according to the state's Department of Revenue.

Customers purchased more than $29.7 million of recreational marijuana in July-up from $24.7 million in June.

Medical marijuana patients spent more than $28.9 million on marijuana in July-comparable to June's $28.6 million.

The numbers point toward Colorado's medical sales potentially leveling out as receational sales continue to rise with more and more shops open for retail sale.

The pot taxes, too, are starting to build up.

Since Jan. 1, Colorado has brought in more than $37.5 million in taxes, licenses and fees for recreational and medical marijuana.

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A week before the state health department considers new limits on medical marijuana growers, a panel of lawmakers and regulators on Monday debated whether the number of plants those growers can raise also should be curbed.

The Use of Recreational Marijuana Sales Tax Revenues Interim Study Committee declined to endorse a proposed bill relating to new limits. It's deemed a "gray market" of untaxed commerce by some but difficult to tweak because it is enshrined in the state constitution.

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Colorado's health department is taking the right steps to pass a rule that would limit medical marijuana caregivers from serving more than 10 patients at a time, but that number is being criticized in an unreasonable emotional debate.

Current rules allow for caregivers to serve more than 10 patients if they obtain a waiver. The rule change would provide greater oversight of the caregiver system, which law enforcement officials say can be a source of illegal diversion to the black market.

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Denver is wise to finally plug the hole in marijuana enforcement that has allowed people to do dangerous butane hash oil extraction at their homes and has led to dozens of explosions across the state.

Mayor Michael Hancock's administration is asking the City Council to approve an ordinance that would prohibit the hazardous solvent-based extraction method everywhere but in a licensed facility. People can still use water-based or food-based extraction methods at home.

Denver's ban would follow similar legislation in other cities, including Centennial, Greenwood Village, Cortez and Telluride.

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Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey was right to criticize a gang task force for setting up a potentially dangerous drug bust in the middle of the afternoon in a well-used city park.

In fact, the operation did turn violent, with the suspect drawing a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol when uniformed officers arrived. Joseph Valverde was then shot dead by an officer.

It's unfortunate that this suspected drug trafficker lost his life, but the incident could have been worse. What if the gunfire that erupted in a parking lot near Overland Pond Park had strayed and hit other people who were merely enjoying the park or riding on the nearby bike trail?

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City Could Ban Home Use of Gas-Based Hash Oil Extraction

Denver officials are moving to ban the amateur use of a risky hash oil extraction process that has resulted this year in dozens of home explosions statewide.

A new proposal backed by Mayor Michael Hancock's administration would ban the home use of solvent-based hash oil extraction. It involves highly flammable compressed gasses, typically butane, in the extraction of oil from marijuana. An additional risk is that some users stock up on those gases in their homes.

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I grew up in a family with Democratic blood, and reform begins to look as disingenuous as saying fracking fluid is safe because he once sipped some. I've voted on that side of the fence more often than not. Though I've been registered as an On the other side, we have Bob Beauprez. Given independent for the last decade or so, I voted for his positions on almost everything, I couldn't vote for John Hickenlooper as governor of Colorado four this Republican candidate for governor under any circumstances. years ago. Hickenlooper's eight-year tenure as mayor of Denver had been impressive, and I was eager to see what he could accomplish as governor. That's when his past came crashing into the present. With Colorado ground-zero for the fracking debate, former geologist Hickenlooper has consistently made decisions that tend to line up with oil and gas interests and, in many people's eyes, against citizens and municipalities.

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Dear Stoner: I'm considering growing herb for the first time this winter in my basement. Should I do a hydroponic or a soil setup?

Bobby Plantaseed

Dear Bobby: Hydroponic was the wave of the future in the '90s - especially in High Times, where high-tech setups were all the rage. And with good reason: You can get some great yields from hydro setups, and aside from the initial layout, they're relatively maintenance-free. There are great hydro grows out there, too: One of our good friends absolutely kills it with Sour Diesel in his.

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For-Profit Firms Barred From Leading State Research

For-profit companies will not be eligible to lead ground-breaking state-funded medical marijuana studies, under the terms of the grant program released Wednesday.

In the official request for applications, the state Department of Public Health and Environment specifies that institutions eligible to apply as primary recipients for the grants include only "not-for profit organizations, health care organizations, governmental entities and higher education institutions." Applicants do not have to be based in Colorado to apply. For-profit firms will be allowed as subcontractors on grant proposals.

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Rules, Rules Everywhere

On Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Revenue held a public-comment hearing regarding proposed changes to its medical- and recreational-marijuana code. As it came after our deadline, we can only tell you what the department was scheduled to consider prior to our paper going to press. See future columns for updates.

Regarding MMJ centers:

Fees for the three tiers of licenses would be slashed from $3,750 to $3,000 for centers with 1 to 300 patients; from $8,750 to $7,000 for those with 301 to 500 patients; and from $14,000 to $11,000 for those with 501 or more patients.

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Families Have Moved to Colorado to Obtain Marijuana Oil for Their Children WHO Have Seizures.

Dozens of families who moved to Colorado to treat their severely disabled children with a special kind of marijuana could lose access to the treatment under new rules proposed by the state health department.

The proposed rules would stop medical marijuana caregivers from serving more than 10 patients at a time. Current rules allow for caregivers to serve more if they obtain a waiver.

Only four of Colorado's 2,896 caregivers currently serve more than 10 patients, according to state figures. The caregiver who said he serves the most patients, a Boulder County man named Jason Cranford, has nearly 90.

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