Where is America’s Cannabis Capital?
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December 22, 2009
Because of the numerous media reports and typical Hollywood hype many close observers would immediately place the city of Los Angeles as America’s cannabis capital. Or maybe they’d guess that ever-cannabis tolerant San Francisco must be it. Possibly, ‘Oaksterdam’?
But, they’d be wrong.
Based on the size of the populations and number of reported medical cannabis dispensaries by each city’s respective City Council, America’s cannabis capital is….drum roll please….
Los Angeles – 1,000 dispensaries for a population of 9,862,049 = 1 dispensary per 9,862 people
Denver – 198 dispensaries for a population of 598,707 = 1 dispensary per 3,023 people
96 Responses to “Where is America’s Cannabis Capital?”
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always knew it was called Mile “High” for a reason, go Denver!
im from, the los angeles area but ill go with that. respect to Denver
Awesome. We need to expand the number of states with dispensaries, including Oregon’s I-28 bill. Check out info and videos about cannabis and hemp at CannabisTV.org
*insert obligatory “mile-high city” pun here*
Alcohol sales are down .
See ; ” five thirty eight Politics done right ; Beer no longer “……
In particular beer with revenues being slashed by a whopping 14% percent . Instead of telling you the TRUTH that Marijuana usage is increasing ar record levels they will tell you lies . They will say things like ” that’s because breweries are increasing their prices ” ( lies )or they will say ” there is now a shortage of hops ” . They will tell you everything but the ,
………………….TRUTH .
It seems like they love their lies .
Driving accidents are also decreasing & they will say this or that is the reason why but , what they WILL NOT tell you is the TRUTH . Marijuana , although i am not advocating nor have i ever advocated it’s use since some people can react differently to being under the influence , can actually make you a better driver by decreasing aggression levels .
Increasing Cannabis usage is also a factor in decreasing drunk driving use putting better drivers on the road . In other words Marijuana does not make you a ” drunk driver “.
Ever heard of someone ” driving under the influence of marijuana ” ?
WE all know what driving under the influence of Alcohol is . It is a danger to yourself and others .
So now we have decreasing violent crime rates , less drunk drivers on the road resulting in fewer accidents & fatalities . As a result of better drivers on the road insurance rates will utimately decrease putting more of that money into your pocket .Henceforth – Less lawsuits resulting in savings to insurance Companies .
What you will do with that extra money is buy things . This increases
productivity and manufacturing of goods which increases employment .
THE TRUTH DOCTOR has already told you that D.A.T. is the real force behing Marijuana prohibition and i told you these things in advance .
Jerry Droz THE TRUTH DOCTOR
man ive been telling everyone that denver was the pot capital for ever! they always said no way its cali bro! but i am right! hahahaha!
The great city of Denver…Im so proud to be born there.
Well, I’m sure this article was correct when it was written. However, the population probably grew to three times this overnight and tied with San Francisco afetr the publication of this article.
I can spell “after”..but my fingers didn’t get the memo.
Yea! way to go CO! born and raised with CO pride! we are leading the charge against this modern day prohibition. Legalize and regulate.
cool
yadadi!
Mile high stadium is named appropriately. My husband and I had already decided to head there for vacation to find some property to buy. I will not live in pain in Georgia for much longer. Good to hear we choose the correct place.Thanks Norml
Denver’s definitely up there but I still think Boston is number 1 if you were to base it per user. Hhaha. We’ve always been reserved about it but that’s been changing for a few years now. It’s ok to talk about it even at some of the financial firms. Fidelity Investments the long time number 1 private employer in the city, half those folks smoke trees.
go denver
First
Yeah Denver…meanwhile here in KY…people like me…just got a 3 year sentence for growing 7 plants and pos 3 ounces of gods given herb. Maybe i should have been a drunk driver and got my hand slapped. Maybe i should have been doing meth and got my hand slapped. God said if it was green and bared a seed it was good. Well maybe one day God can Tell that to my judge!
Mile High and proud of it! As NORML Board member and a graduate of DU ’70, I can attest to an enthusisum for things cannabis in Denver back then: in this case “your father’s marijuana” was hashish from the far corners of the globe smoked by the hit in dorm bathrooms with the hot shower running and a towel under the door. Now 40 years later, I find marijuana’s use to me as much medical as recreational and nationally, millions of my classmates are finding the same. Plus, of course, there are a zillion other patients of all ages. Well, Colorado’s voters and their pioneering entrepreneurs have given the people a real choice: prescription drugs or something natural, cannabis. A great model for the nation. Go Denver!
How MMJ patients are registered in each area?
That’s amazing. I’m planning to move to Denver next year, can’t wait.
brandon, sorry.. sf and oakland have been “leading the way” for years before CO got on board. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
I hate that they’re reducing the number of LA’s dispensaries. They need more of them, not less! =)
Alex #16: That crap only works on the World of Warcraft forums.
Hey, give DC a chance to catch up…
Now that they know this little factoid about Denver they will begin to attribute everything from reduced traffic accidents to reduced crime rate to marijuana! What they are forgetting is that it means that it has the most dispensaries does it not? I don’tthink it means that Denver has more weed dealers than any other city,lol, that would make for a definitely increased crime rate! All these comments I have seen about “le’s make a Mile High pun here”. Is that all this means to them is the opportunity for fodder for another joe? If that’s the case; stay home and keep your puns and comments to yourselfs you don’t help the cause. I hve itractable pain. My doctors at the VA have tried unuccessfully for years to get me to stop smoking. They have finally thrown their hands up in dispair knowing that their Morphine and Methadone don’t help me and that without weed I can’t get out of bed each day or even walk!!!! How would those jokesters like to be sentenced to life like that. I am a vibrant 58 year young woman with a lot of living left to do buthow am I supposed to do it if I can’t I need your help!!!!!! NOT YOUR JOKES OR PUNS!!
MAUREEN REIS
I wish the south were as tolerant and progressive… *sigh*. At this rate, the rest of the country will get medical weed, and South Carolina will still be arresting everybody (does the name Michael Phelps mean anything to you?)…
The Denver media made much of a dispensary robbery a week or so ago, raising concerns about dispensaries attracting crime and pondering the possibility of regulating proximity to schools. The same week, 14 banks were robbed.
Wow #16… Talk about a major fail…
I still think the fact that LA has 1000 of ‘em is more impressive. Sure, percentage wise it may not be as much, but LA is so much larger and their laws are so lax, when I visited there last year there were people outside of ‘doctors offices’ handing out cards and trying to get people to come in and get their medical cards (3 doctors and 4-5 dispensaries in about a 2 mile walk along the beach)
Plus which area is gonna have legalization on the ballot next year?
Wish that picture showed the Rocky Mountains, but whatever. Denver rocks.
Denver is becoming more civilized.
That is great. (And a surprise to me) I plan to take a vacation to the first place to totally legalize it and sell it to all adults. I would move to this place, but I need to be here in Oregon for when we get to vote on this issue in November. Woo hoo!!!
really!? ok because i live in the bay area, san jose to be exact. i have to say Oakland is ground zero for all things cannabis, but the the bay area by FAR is the cannabis capitol of america! we grow the BEST BUD IN AMERICA out here in Nor Cal, Oakland has the first CANNABIS COLLEGE in Oaksterdam university. Paul Armentano is a San Fran resident (the man who put marijuana legalization ON THE BALLOT FOR 2010 in California) Ed Rosenthal is a Oakland resident. We have Cannabis Cups in Oaksterdam.
Just because the ratio of people to dispensaries is lower in denver doesnt mean anything really…we are up to our heads in bud out here. Check this out! go to the SF Bay Area Craigslist and serch “prop 215″ (thats the medical mary bill passed in 96′ in cali). yes, you can buy weed on craigslist!
nbot only that but “joe” just used bay area slang!!
i understand that colorado is No2 in this cannabis movement after Cali, but to say Denver is the Cannabis capitol just because of population is ridiculous. take ACTUAL PATIENTS/Dispensaries, and i think you would find LA probably has that stat covered. as far as being “Cannabis Capitol”, CO has nothing on CA
haha ok so after some research you can get bud on craigslist in Denver. I stand corrected.
One collective for every 2,727 people in Redding. We have over 33 dispensaries with a population of approx. 90,000 you do the math.
Denver has changed alot since the 80′s when the Denver court locked me up 10 days and a hefty fine for possession of a cannabis pipe.
Yay! Im moving to CO in 2011! Illinois is too far behind. Mark Kirk is the devil here in IL who is pushing the insanity of 20 years prison for pot that is above 15% THC.
We need to start physically removing these pro-prohibitionists from office if marijuana is not legal in the next 5 years!
This is our country and I am ready to start taking it back!
damn, i knew it wouldn’t be flo-town…if only we had some dispensaries here! and if only they knew how many partake in texas!
Can someone please direct me to the state ( Colorado )( New Mexico ) website that discribes the state position for posession of personal amounts of MJ? What are the requirements to grow and open your own dispensary? Also what kind of approved MJ medical card is available and the approved medical conditions that allows MJ as a medical treatment? Finally does the VA support and endorse the use of MJ and will they prescribe it??
[Editor's note: State law information found here. America's medical cannabis laws and state programs/requirements found here. The Veteran's Administration, a federal bureaucracy, does not yet support medical access to cannabis.]
Sorry , i hate to disappoint you but , Arcata , Cali. has already been given the Title of ” Pot City U.S.A. ” a month or two ago .
Residents of the Colorado ski town of Breckenridge overwhelmingly voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana Tuesday. The measure passed with 73% of the vote.
Breckenridge, Colorado
That means as of January 1, people in Breckenridge can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana under local ordinance. The measure also legalizes the possession of marijuana paraphernalia.
“This votes demonstrates that Breckenridge citizens overwhelmingly believe that adults should not be punished for making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol,” said Sean McAllister, Breckenridge attorney and chair of Sensible Breckenridge, a local project of the statewide marijuana law reform group Sensible Colorado.
“As state and national focus grows on this important issue, the popular ski town of Breckenridge has taken center stage on marijuana reform — and not just for medical purposes,” said Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado. “With this historic vote, Breckenridge has emerged as a national leader in sensible drug policy.”
The campaign, which had no formal opposition, received a chorus of local support including endorsements from Breckenridge Town Councilman Jeffrey Bergeron, former Colorado State Representative and Breckenridge resident, Gary Lindstrom, and the Summit Daily News.
Measure 2F was placed on the ballot when over 1,400 local supporters signed a petition supporting the reform measure.
Under Colorado state law, possession of up to an ounce is decriminalized and punishable by a $100 fine. But Breckenridge police will “still have the ability to exercise discretion,” said Chief Rick Holman. “It’s never been something that we’ve spent a lot of time on, so I don’t expect this to be a big change in how we really do business,” he told the Summit Daily News.
Breckenridge residents had voted for Amendment 44, a statewide legalization initiative, by the same percentage in 2006. That initiative won only 41% of the vote statewide.
Denver became the first city to vote to legalize marijuana possession under municipal ordinance in 2005.
WHAT!?! If this based on the sheer # of despensaries then ok I guess. But we are still in the infancy of movement of Cannabis reform, & Hemp utilization. As far as a captial for Cannabis, progression, information, history, etc… should also be considered.
Ok, I am from Cali, but I wouldn’t consider Los Angles either as a captial. I would have to say San Francisco for the establishment of Prop. 215 (back in “96″) or Oakland for the refinement of the law & culture of the movement. As far as inclusion of all the states in the movement, catagories like “state with the most progressive laws set for year…” or “state with most new despensaries established in year…, would get more of us proactively involed in communitcations with our lawmakers. I congratulate the “Mile High” State for being so ambitious & progressive, but then, where will the capital be next year? Consistancy is key to our movement.
Looks like I’m moving to Denver. Because I want my child to be proud of where they will come from…….
#25 – Maureen Reis: Agree with you however, it happens all the time here. Don’t take it personally, just ignore their comments.
And I really don’t care where Americas Cannabis Capitol is, what I do care about is that the 70 plus years of lies are exposed and ended soon.
Mankind has evolved so darn slowly …….
We take this designation with great acceptance and with heavy responsibilities. We know we have to set an example for the rest of the Nation to follow. Cali set the tee up for us and now we have to be the ones to make that drive down the fairway to legalization and responsible laws. We started it all in Colorado with the first arrest for marijuana. And I hope we are ready soon to be the first to stop arresting for marijuana.
Mile High. The force is strong with us.
The truth will bear itself out. Nothing more to say than that.
Hey Emroy make sure Kirk doesn’t make it to the senate would ya
.
Course Denver is the #1 spot for weed. Just ask Carmelo Anthony…
My wife and I are moving to the Denver area in the next two years. I can’t wait!
Buh bye, Midwest!
I drank in Denver and almost got shot by a cop, but never blazed up there. I like the stadium.
This is more excitement than I can take. To #25 imagine going into your local dispensary and buying the exact compound for your needs. We will see this day sooner than you think. We know more about the complex compounds found in cannabis than ever before. We have a much greater understanding of how it enters our brain and what effect it has. It won’t be long before the exact compound you need will be defined and extracted,purified and administered in the most healthful way possible. This is all do to all of the people in this country that are standing up to our government and demanding the truth about cannabis and industrial hemp. I sincerely hope you find the relief that you deserve.
Wow, you can have better healthcare in Denver! I can’t believe some folks are trying their darndest
to deny patients their rights. Oh well, the numbers say it all…..Facts overcome Lies…….:)-