Colorado Archives - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

Judging by the sixth annual NoCo Hemp Expo, or NoCo 6, the American hemp industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming years.

Begun in 2014, the NoCo Hemp Expo celebrated its first year in Denver, Colorado on March 29 and 30. An estimated 10,000 people, the largest attendance ever, crammed into the Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Center for the sold-out show. The move to Denver came after the 2018 NoCo Hemp Expo outgrew the event’s former location at a convention center in Loveland, about an hour’s drive to the north. Organizers are already looking for a bigger home for the 2020 event.

Cooking With Hemp & Colorado’s HempWay Foods

Cooking with hemp can be as easy as hemp pesto aioli

A jar of hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds). (Pixabay / sweetlouise, public domain)

May 30, 2018

Kit

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Cooking With Hemp & Colorado’s HempWay Foods

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

Sampling Carla Boyd’s cooking, including her hemp pesto aioli, was one of the highlights of our recent visit to Denver.

Boyd is the founder of Hemp Way Foods, a Colorado company. People lined up to sample her hemp burgers, vegan hemp nachos, and hemp tacos at the NoCo Hemp Expo last month. After we tried her food, we knew we wanted to find out more and get a few recipes for our readers. We spoke with Boyd by phone to learn how she discovered hemp. She also shared two of her recipes, which you’ll find below: her famous hemp pesto aioli and hemp tacos.

Colorado Hemp Expo Reveals U.S. Hemp Industry Poised To Explode

Hemp products from around the world on display at HempToday’s “global village” booth at the NoCo Hemp Expo. (Ministry of Hemp / Kit O'Connell)

April 15, 2018

Kit

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Colorado Hemp Expo Reveals U.S. Hemp Industry Poised To Explode

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

Interest in hemp and CBD is growing faster than ever, and the crowds at the NoCo Hemp Expo prove it.

On April 6 and 7, thousands of people flocked to the Ranch Events Center in rural Loveland, Colorado, for the fifth and largest ever annual NoCo Hemp Expo. The sold-out event featured a crowd of 6,000 people in attendance over the two days, according to a press release issued by the event organizers.

With almost 1,500 more people than in 2017 and 150 vendors, the NoCo Hemp Expo has gotten so large that organizers will move it to Denver next year. Vendors ranged from the best of hemp fashion to innovative foods infused with CBD oil, as well as new offerings for hemp farmers.

2016 Goes To Pot: Colorado Cannabis Sales Top $1B & Oregon Sales Defy Expectations

A bud of the "Oregon Blues" cannabis strain. December 11, 2014.A bud of the "Oregon Blues" cannabis strain. December 11, 2014. (Flickr / Matt Dillon, CC NC ND)

December 23, 2016

Kit

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2016 Goes To Pot: Colorado Cannabis Sales Top $1B & Oregon Sales Defy Expectations

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Legal cannabis is booming, and with Colorado netting $1 billion in legal, regulated sales in the first 10 months of 2016, the industry’s growth isn’t showing any signs of slowing.

Sales of both recreational and medical cannabis hit $1.1 billion by October, according to analysis of sales data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. A boost in sales from the December holiday season is expected to push the total even higher.

“We think we’ll see $1.3 billion in sales revenue this year,” said Christian Sederberg, a partner at Vicente Sederberg and a leading cannabis industry lawyer, in a Dec. 12 interview with The Cannabist, a division of The Denver Post.

From ABCs To CBD: New Jersey, Colorado Allow Students Medical Marijuana At School

File: Young children swing on a swing set in Wisconsin. (Flickr / Bethlehem Lutheran / Pam Carlson-Gugel)

June 15, 2016

Kit

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From ABCs To CBD: New Jersey, Colorado Allow Students Medical Marijuana At School

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

As more families press for their children to be allowed to consume medical cannabis at school, more states are moving toward allowing students access to the substance that remains banned at the federal level.

Last week, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed “Jack’s Law,” which will allow students with a prescription to receive non-inhaled medical marijuana during the school day. The law is named for a young student who couldn’t access his prescribed medical cannabis at school. CBS Denver reported on June 7.

“We absolutely need to allow children to have access to medicine in schools. Why wouldn’t we?” said Kyle Sherman, the founder and CEO of Flowhub, in an interview with MintPress News. Flowhub is a Denver-based software company that helps growers and dispensaries maintain their supply chains and follow local laws.

Tax Revenue Expected To Reach $125 Million As 2015 Colorado Cannabis Sales Near $1B

This November 25, 2009 photograph shows a close-up of a lush bud of cannabis in a legal medical marijuana grow house in Denver, Colorado. (Flickr / Coleen Elliott)

January 26, 2016

Kit

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Tax Revenue Expected To Reach $125 Million As 2015 Colorado Cannabis Sales Near $1B

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Colorado’s legal marijuana business boomed last year, with total sales in the state nearing the $1 billion mark, according to current estimates.

Official figures for marijuana sales in December won’t be available until next month, but Ricardo Baca, a staff writer for The Denver Post’s The Cannabist, reported on Jan. 13 that total marijuana sales, including for both recreational and medicinal purposes, had reached $895 million by November.

With cannabis taxed in three ways by the state, including two different kinds of sales tax, Colorado had earned $121 million through that month. That figure represents an especially important windfall for education, Baca noted: