Rick Baca | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1977 (45-46 years old) |
Education | Metropolitan State University of Denver |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, editor |
Known for | The Denver Post Rolling Papers |
Ricardo Baca (born c. 1977) is an American journalist best known for being the first full-time marijuana rights editor for a major American newspaper. [1] [2] [3] He was an editor at The Denver Post , producing The Cannabist for over three years until December, 2016. [4] [5] He is the "central character" of the 2015 documentary film Rolling Papers . [6] He also shares his name with the first person to be convicted for the possession of marijuana after the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was put into action.
Baca went to high school at Westminster High School in the Denver suburbs, where he wrote for the school paper. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1999 from Metropolitan State University of Denver. [7]
Prior to The Cannabist, Baca worked at Corpus Christi Caller-Times from 1999 to 2002, [3] and following that, was The Denver Post's music critic and entertainment editor for more than a decade. [6] [7] Baca also co-founded Denver's Underground Music Showcase in 2002. [8]
In 2016, Baca started Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency, which provides PR, content, and social media marketing for cannabis businesses and others in highly regulated industries, real estate and healthcare. [9]
Baca has been married since c. 2015. [10]
420, 4:20 or 4/20 is cannabis culture slang for marijuana and hashish consumption, especially smoking around the time 4:20 pm (16:20). It also refers to cannabis-oriented celebrations that take place annually on April 20.
The Denver Post is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 million page views, according to comScore.
In Colorado, cannabis has been legal for medical use since 2000 and for recreational use since late 2012. On November 7, 2000, 54% of Colorado voters approved Amendment 20, which amended the State Constitution to allow the use of marijuana in the state for approved patients with written medical consent. Under this law, patients may possess up to 2 ounces (57 g) of medical marijuana and may cultivate no more than six marijuana plants. Patients who were caught with more than this in their possession could argue "affirmative defense of medical necessity" but were not protected under state law with the rights of those who stayed within the guidelines set forth by the state. The Colorado Amendment 64, which was passed by voters on November 6, 2012, led to recreational legalization in December 2012 and state-licensed retail sales in January 2014. The policy has led to cannabis tourism. There are two sets of policies in Colorado relating to cannabis use: those for medicinal cannabis and for recreational drug use along with a third set of rules governing hemp.
In the United States, cannabis is legal in 38 of 50 states for medical use and 24 states for recreational use. At the federal level, cannabis is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, determined to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use, prohibiting its use for any purpose. Despite this prohibition, federal law is generally not enforced against the possession, cultivation, or intrastate distribution of cannabis in states where such activity has been legalized.
Colorado Amendment 64 was a successful popular initiative ballot measure to amend the Constitution of the State of Colorado, outlining a statewide drug policy for cannabis. The measure passed on November 6, 2012, and along with a similar measure in Washington state, marked "an electoral first not only for America but for the world."
The legal history of cannabis in the United States began with state-level prohibition in the early 20th century, with the first major federal limitations occurring in 1937. Starting with Oregon in 1973, individual states began to liberalize cannabis laws through decriminalization. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis, sparking a trend that spread to a majority of states by 2016. In 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use.
Kayvan Khalatbari is an Iranian-American entrepreneur; he was a mayoral candidate in Denver, Colorado, in 2019.
Cannabis in Vermont as of May 2004 is legal for medical use, and legal for recreational use as of July 1, 2018.
Cannabis in Nebraska is fully illegal, but first offense for possession of small amounts was reduced to a civil infraction in 1979.
Cannabis tourism in the United States is a form of drug tourism that exists in recreationally legal cannabis states. As of May 2023, 23 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam have legalized recreational cannabis.
MassRoots is a social network for the cannabis community. As of June 2016, it had an estimated 900,000 users. MassRoots for Business, the company’s advertising portal, has an estimated 1,000 clients as of June 2015. In 2014, MassRoots was one of the first cannabis-related companies to go public through a Registration Statement on Form S-1 and trades under the ticker “MSRT” and in August 2015, MassRoots submitted an application to up-list its stock to the Nasdaq.
The Neighborhood-Supported Cannabis Consumption Pilot Program Initiative (I-300), more commonly known as the Denver Initiative 300 or the Social Pot Use Initiative, allows for limited public consumption of cannabis within the city limits of Denver, Colorado. This ballot initiative was passed by voters on November 8, 2016 by a 53.57% to 46.43% margin. Initiative 300 is a pilot program which will sunset in 2020 unless extended by city council or an additional voter initiative.
High Profits is an eight-part CNN documentary television series about Breckenridge Cannabis Club and the U.S. state of Colorado's legal cannabis industry. The series began airing on April 19, 2015.
Rolling Papers is a 2015 documentary film directed by Mitch Dickman and featuring Ricardo Baca. The "deceptively rote title" is said to be a winking reference to Baca's work as a newspaper writer.
The International Church of Cannabis is a religious organization in Denver that uses cannabis as a sacrament. Members claim the use of cannabis helps elevate people to a higher understanding of self.
Cannabis product testing is a form of product testing analyzes the quality of cannabis extracts, edibles, and THC and CBD levels in an emergent consumer market eager to sell adult use products. Analytical chemistry and microbiology laboratories are important entities in consumer protection. These labs not only determine the condition and viability of cannabinoids, water content, heavy metals, pesticides, terpenes, yeast, but also the presence of mold, mycotoxins, and solvents. These laboratories emerged when advocates of cannabis testing raised concerns about potential contaminants.
Cannabis advertising is the advertising of cannabis products to consumers by the cannabis industry through a variety of media. It is regulated by U.S. states. Some or all forms of cannabis advertising are banned in many countries.
The Cole Memorandum was a United States Department of Justice memorandum issued August 29, 2013, by United States Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the presidency of Barack Obama. The memorandum, sent to all United States Attorneys, governed federal prosecution of offenses related to marijuana. The memo stated that given its limited resources, the Justice Department would not enforce federal marijuana prohibition in states that "enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form and ... implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana," except where a lack of federal enforcement would undermine federal priorities.
Women have been active in the cannabis industry, cannabis legalization, cannabis testing, and cannabis rights since the earliest days of commercialization, but they have also faced gendered obstacles impeding their growth in an industry worth over 12 million dollars since 2019. "The American cannabis industry accounted for $10 billion of 2018’s [global] figures, with the average U.S. dispensary pulling in $3 million a year."