NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 46
n a sunny Rocky Mountain afternoon, Jay Nelson and I are
standing outside a strip-mall on the outskirts of Breckenridge,
Colorado, along a stretch of road locals call "the Green Mile."
We're here to tour Alpenglow Botanicals, which from the
outside looks like a boutique health food store catering
to well-heeled tourists. When we step inside, though, the skunky
smell of 1,000 marijuana plants hits my nostrils. "You're going
to smell like this the rest of the day," Nelson, Breckenridge's
deputy fire chief, warns.
In a building it shares with a CrossFit gym, Alpenglow grows,
harvests, processes, and sells a variety of marijuana products,
including buds, concentrates, and edibles. Owner Justin Williams,
a 33-year old former auto technician, turned his self-described
"passion for marijuana" into a thriving business, which he proudly
shows us. We walk through a clinical checkerboard-tiled extraction
lab that churns out sticky hash oil concentrate, then a labyrinth of
rooms filled with manicured plants and neon grow lights. Williams
enthusiastically explains grow cycles, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, humidity levels, and how the plants are trimmed and
harvested. In one room, drying buds hang from racks like smoked
trout, as three 20-somethings sit around a conference table trimming and weighing the plants on digital scales. My brain knows this
is all legal, but I still have the uneasy feeling that a SWAT team could
bust down the door at any moment. Nelson, on the other hand, is
loose, and possibly bored. He's seen it all a thousand times.
Colorado, after all, is the global cannabis capitol. The transformation began in 2009 with a rapid ramp-up of medical marijuana, accelerated in 2012 when the state became the first place in the world
to allow legal recreational marijuana use by anyone over age 21, and
surged again in 2014 with the opening of specially licensed stores
for marijuana sales. There are now nearly 1,000 licensed medical
and recreational pot dispensaries in the state, vastly outpacing the
number of Starbucks (239). There are also hundreds of grow and
extraction operations, most concentrated around Denver.
Public safety agencies have played a key role in shaping the evolution of this fast-moving industry, even as they were often forced to
write the textbook while learning the material. "Our knowledge
of the industry literally started at zero," said Brian Lukus, a young
fire protection engineer who has led the Denver Fire Department's
marijuana efforts. "Meanwhile, the industry went from zero to a
hundred miles an hour in an instant."
46
NFPA JOURNAL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
The work done in Colorado-as well
as in Washington, Alaska, and Oregon,
states where recreational marijuana is
also legal-may provide a roadmap for
other jurisdictions as the legalization
movement continues its methodical
march across the nation. Likewise,
Colorado's struggles, some of which are
ongoing, could help other states better
manage similar issues.
This year's election could be a watershed moment for marijuana legalization and the pot industry, advocates
say. In November, Massachusetts,
Arizona, California, Maine, and Nevada
will vote on whether or not to allow
recreational marijuana. Several other
states, including Florida, Arkansas, and
North Dakota, will consider legalizing
medicinal marijuana, joining at least 25
other states and the District of Columbia where it is already legal. Many states
are intrigued by the possibility of a pot
industry tax windfall; one estimate
predicts that federal, state, and local
governments could take in $28 billion
annually if marijuana were legalized nationwide. Pot was a $1 billion industry
in Colorado last year, and revenues are
expected to eclipse that figure this year.
As the industry continues to gain
ground, NFPA has convened a task
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2016
Contents
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - Contents
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 3
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 4
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 5
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 6
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 7
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 8
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 9
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 10
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 11
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 12
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 13
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 14
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 15
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 16
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 17
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 18
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 19
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 20
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 21
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 22
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 23
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 24
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 25
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 26
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 27
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 28
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 29
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 30
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 31
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 32
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - I1
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - I2
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 33
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 34
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 35
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 36
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 37
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 38
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 39
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 40
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 41
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 42
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 43
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 44
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 45
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 46
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 47
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 48
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 49
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 50
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 51
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 52
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 53
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 54
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 55
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 56
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 57
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 58
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 60
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 63
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 65
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 67
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NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 80
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - Cover4
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