Hempy holidaze!

What’s up with the raids in Denver? I thought weed was legal in Colorado?

—Jeff

Right? It would seem that the folks running these particular clubs aren’t doing as good of a job as they could be doing. According to published reports, Hector Diaz, one of the owners of the raided clubs, has ties to Colombian cartels and was also sending legally grown medical cannabis out of state. John Ingold from The Denver Post has an excellent article about the raids at www.denverpost.com.

The thing about marijuana no longer being a black-market—or even a gray-market—commodity is that more than a few club operators are going to have to clean up their acts. The feds and the local authorities are still a little miffed that the laws have changed, so they will definitely be looking harder at marijuana business owners to make sure they aren’t fucking up the new game, as it were. As long as the accused get their day in court, and this isn’t another one of those infamous Drug Enforcement Administration smash-in-and-grab-all-the-money-and-weed-and-don’t-arrest-anyone-and-leave raids, then I think (and it really really pains me to say this) the DEA may have done the right thing. Damn it.

I know a lot of stoners, and I would love to get them some sort of cannabis-related gifts. Any ideas?

—Canna-Chris Cringle

But of course! Hempy holidaze to you! Smoking devices are always a great idea. I have been hearing great things about the Cloud vaporizer (http://cloudvapes.com). Magic Flight vapes (www.magic-flight.com) are still awesome, especially for using at home. If you can afford one, the Volcano vaporizer (http://volcanovaporizer.com) is a great choice for the heavy-duty cannabis user.

How about giving the gift of travel? Washington and Colorado will have legal recreational pot shops open in 2014. Hell to the yes! Fly your friend to Denver or Seattle (or Pueblo or Vail or Tacoma), hit all the clubs, and have your own little Cannabis Cup in the privacy of your hotel room. Not only will you have fun, you will be supporting the cannabis movement by showing other states that legal weed means extra tourist dollars. A win-win for everyone.

For the fashion forward, Grassroots California (http://shop.grassrootscalifornia.com) makes great snapback baseball caps, and it donates a portion of the proceeds to worthy causes. Rasta Empire (www.rastaempire.com) makes excellent T-shirts. There are weed-inspired items all over the place. Check my column from last year (see “Happy holidaze” SN&R The 420; December 6, 2012) for some more good ideas. Happy Chrismakwanzaahanukkah to you and yours.

This is kind of off topic, but what’s your favorite holiday?

—Nick

I love Kwanzaa, because each day has a theme that can also be used as a guide for the rest of the year. My fave themes are co-operative economics (ujamaa) and self-determination (kujichagulia). Check out this website (man, I am full of links today) for more info: www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org.

Hempy holidaze to you all.