Southern Colorado cannabis fans and industry members were briefly excited to learn that marijuana magazine publisher, ìHigh Times,î was moving its annual United States Cannabis Cup to the Pueblo area. After concerns about security and the licensing approval time line, the ìHigh Timesî publisher decided to pull the Cup out of Colorado after hosting the event in the state each year since Amendment 64 went into effect in 2014.In February, the Adams County Board of County Commissioners rejected the Denver Mart location after law enforcement officials testified to commissioners about concerns with crowd size and public cannabis consumption. Open cannabis consumption in public remains illegal in Colorado under both medical and recreational marijuana legalization amendments.ìHigh Timesî officials tried to move the event to The Yard on the Mesa in Pueblo County. The magazine predicted about 17,000 people per day would attend the event, down from the 35,000 that attended earlier Denver Mart editions of the Cup. When Pueblo County told organizers that the event application was incomplete and gave ìHigh Timesî until March 1 to resubmit the application, the publisher announced it would move the event to San Bernardino, California.The ìHigh Timesî editor-in-chief, Dan Skye, issued a statement March 8 to Colorado media, and directed all inquiries to that statement. ìThe simple fact is that, regardless of the tremendous strides that our community has made in legalizing cannabis, there’s still a long way to go,î Skye wrote.Since the permit process started late after Adams County’s denial, Pueblo County permitting time lines would have allowed officials to wait on a decision to approve or deny the permit as late as a week before the intended start of the event. ìOur negotiations were friendly and progress was being made,î Skye wrote. ìHowever, our busy calendar of upcoming events persuaded us that the better decision was to host a full Cannabis Cup in Colorado at a later date.îWhile the marijuana industry will be descending on the NOS Center in San Bernardino instead of Pueblo, there are still four 20-themed events available in Colorado for cannabis connoisseurs. The ìHigh Timesî Concert Series will still be held April 19 at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado.
