Just north of the New Mexico state line, developers plan to turn Trinidad, Colo., center into a one-stop shop for pot tourism On the first day the state of Colorado allowed the sale of recreational marijuana, Chris Elkins waited two hours in the freezing cold to buy weed. "The line was down the stairwells, down the sidewalks, around the buildings, down the street," Elkins, who had traveled to Colorado from Arkansas for a long-planned ski trip, recalled about that New Year's Day in 2014. [continues 2107 words]
A terminally ill man who claimed to have been treated "like an animal" after he was booked into the Denver jail is poised to get a $150,000 settlement from the city. Timothy Thomason, who has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, filed a lawsuit against the city and sheriff's Deputy Joseph Cleveland, alleging he was deprived of his constitutional rights when he was denied medical treatment and access to his medications while he was in the city's custody. "I've experienced excruciating pain in my life with my cancer. But this was one of the most painful and scary experiences I've ever had," Thomason said in a 2006 interview with the Rocky Mountain News. [continues 293 words]
A retired Denver police lieutenant stood alongside marijuana activists Wednesday to endorse a Nov. 6 initiative that would make adult possession of less than an ounce of pot the "lowest law enforcement priority" in the city. Lt. Tony Ryan said he's not advocating drug use but that the city's resources would be better spent fighting violence and property crime, rather than busting people for possessing small amounts of marijuana. "I was a street officer most of my career through the ranks and homicides, rapes, assaults, domestic violence, alcohol was involved in every one of them," he said. [continues 146 words]
Denver police would have to make possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults their lowest law enforcement priority under a proposal a pro-pot group is pushing. "We're doing this because the city has been unwilling to recognize the fact that people in Denver do not think adults should be punished for using marijuana, a less harmful drug than alcohol," Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, said Thursday. In 2005, voters approved Initiative 100, which legalized, under city ordinances, possession and private use of an ounce or less of marijuana by adults. [continues 137 words]
Landslide Threat Adds to Area's Woes JULIAN - With three young children in tow, Glenn and Jennifer Smith braved the cold and blustery weather yesterday morning to have their voices heard. The Smith family has been out of business and out of its home since a National Guard helicopter on a federal drug surveillance mission hit a power line July 29 and ignited the 62,000-acre Pines fire near Julian. "We're not going to let this thing die or get swept under the carpet," said Jennifer Smith, 32. "We aren't seeking to gain anything other than simply what we lost." [continues 499 words]
A Santa Fe woman was forced to surrender custody of her newborn at St. Vincent Hospital on Friday after the baby boy tested positive for cocaine, police said. "I feel so terrible," the baby's mother, 29-year-old Nicole Sena, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "This baby is only a week old," she said. "I just don't know why I did it. The only thing I can tell you is weakness. Being at my age, I should already know better. I don't have any excuses." [continues 699 words]
