Marijuana giveaway with pipes purchase illegal, says attorney general, police chief
Earlier this month, we wrote about Craigslist advertisements offering free marijuana as a bonus for purchasing other items, in exchange for a donation, or even for buying a $50 bumper sticker. Now, however, both the Colorado Attorney General and the Denver Police Chief have branded the practice illegal -- although ads for some deals remain online at this writing.
In our February 4 post, we followed up on reporting by CBS4's Rick Sallinger, contacting the owners of 4 Strains Pipe & Tobacco. The operation's still-accessible ad features this graphic....
...and this text:
COLORADO AMENDMENT 64!! COMPLIANT!As we reported, 4 Strains is run by Mike Paulk and Felicia L. According to Paulk, "We're not a center; we're two caregivers. We've been operating for almost three years. We started out just being caregivers and selling extra to centers. But in 2010, when they legislated caregivers out of being able to sell to medical marijuana centers, we kept our patients -- we've had some of them assigned to us for two or three years -- and went on Craigslist."GET YOUR 2 GRAM SACK OF FREE NUGS WHEN YA GET $30
PURCHASE OF SMOKING ACCESSORIES OR TOBACCO ECTERA
IN OUR HEAD SHOP!NO JOKE! ANYONE OVER 21 YEARS OLD WITH A ID FROM ANYWHERE.
NO MEDICAL CARD REQUIRED.
CASH ONLY
HOURS 12-7
This approach has been a success. "We've built from a garage to a 5,000 square foot building with a certificate of occupancy and a business license -- we're totally legit," Paulk pointed out. Moreover, he said, their attorney tells them that the current giveaway is just fine under the provisions of Amendment 64 that have already taken effect.
"If you read about the amendment in the voter-information packet that was sent to the public in 2012, the things about personal use and possession section are in place," he maintained. "Like the part where it states you can assist somebody in cultivating it as long as there's no remuneration. So what we're doing is offering people what they want anyway just to get them to come into our store to buy pipes, T-shirts and other things we have for sale."
As for Felicia, she stressed that "we're really not making any money" from the two-gram giveaway.... What we're selling is smoking accessories."
In a followup piece by Sallinger on view below, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Denver Police Chief Robert White offer a very different interpretation of this theory.
Continue for more about the free marijuana offer, including a video.
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