Legalizing Marijuana: Pot laws in Colorado скачать в хорошем качестве

Legalizing Marijuana: Pot laws in Colorado

DENVER, Colo. (Jeff Hirsh) -- One week from Monday, Oct. 26, Ohio voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana. Issue 3 is a constitutional amendment that would allow both medical and recreational pot in Ohio. Recently, reporter Jeff Hirsh and photographer Dan Cavins went to Denver to see how legal marijuana is working in Colorado. They found a local guy who ended up a major mover and shaker in the Denver cannabis business. Nick Hice grew up learning about potted plants. Now he grows planted pot. And then when they get a nice root system we plant them in one of these 3 inch cubes until we get a really nice root development coming out of these plants, he said. Hice is originally from Waynesvile in Warren County, Ohio. His parents owned a nursery so Hice grew up with a green thumb, which is just continuing. Essentially the first month in the flowering room they're just sitting here, just stretching and developing height and then in the next 30-40 days they're just developing weight on the flower, said Hice. He got into the legal cannabis business in 2009 with the economy crashing. Hice moved from Ohio to Denver where the pot business was hiring. He joined a medical marijuana company called Denver Relief and is now a co-owner. Since Colorado voters OK'd recreational pot in 2012, business has jumped 50 percent. There are no corners cut for the recreational product versus the medical product, said Hice. Part marketer and part horticulturalist, Hice now also has Denver Relief consulting; advising others on the business in lights, soil and action. Absolutely, it's very much like growing a lot of other plants. Specifically, I would associate it with herbaceous vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes and things like that. A lot of the growing practices are very similar if almost identical. The nutrient recipes can be tweaked a little bit specifically for cannabis, but it many ways it's like growing a lot of other plants, he said. Of course, it's not exactly the same. Tomatoes are legal everywhere and are not, as marijuana is in Colorado, licensed from seed to sale and taxed. Obviously, Nick Hice favors legal marijuana but Hice was not thrilled with the marijuana legalization campaign in Ohio. For example, he said the Ohio group's Buddie the mascot trivialized a serious issue. He said, It's just like Joe Camel, right. Nobody wants Joe Camel advertising to our kids. And it's the same way with Buddie the Mascot. Hice also disagreed with how the Ohio legalization proposal limits the state to 10 marijuana grow farms, with perhaps one more down the road, I would be willing to be my paycheck if it wasn't set up the way it was, if it was set up the way some other states did it, they would have a much better chance of passing it. Having the limited cultivation facilities is a big issue, not only the fact that they've limited it, but it's the investors who are running the campaign who have the rights to those facilities. In most other states like Illinois there's a very intense application process going on. The 21 licenses they decided to distribute in Illinois, there were hundreds if not thousands of applications that were submitted, which allows for a very thorough vetting process. Whether Ohio says yes or no to legal marijuana on Election Day or not, Ohioan Nick Hice believes that facilities will be spread across the United States in the not too terribly distant future. He believes legalization of marijuana in the entire county is just a matter of time. ResponsibleOhio, the group backing a yes vote on Issue 3, said Buddie the Mascot was not aimed at kids but rather at millennials over age 21. The pro-pot group also said the 10 marijuana grow farms will compete with each other and will not coordinate their business plans. Follow Jeff Hirsh on Twitter @local12jeff and LIKE him on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!