The who's who in Colorado pot will soon gather to decide how to label and standardize edible marijuana products, but you won't see any skiing references. A few months back, the task force had contemplated using the well-known ski signage system - green circles, blue squares, and black diamonds- to label the strength of cannabis snacks. As one might suspect, the state ski industry trade group Colorado Ski Country wasn't too fond of that idea.
It's been an up and down road for ski areas and pot in Colorado. Like the rest of the state, many ski towns have plenty of marijuana stores (just take a look at this map), and business is booming. The Aspen airport even has a marijuana "Amnesty Box" that allows forgetful passengers to dispose of their cannabis no questions asked. And while you can now rent pot friendly lodging in ski country, last winter Colorado ski areas waged a battle against smoke shacks, the illegally built huts in the forest where skiers go to get high. Thanks to a sensationalized "news" report by Inside Edition, Breckenridge ski patrol even blew up the two-story Leo's smoke shack (check out the video here).
Needless to say, when Colorado Ski Country heard that the pot industry might use skiing's iconic symbols, they quickly acted. According to the Denver Post, the trade group convinced state lawmakers to add a small sentence to House Bill 1366 that said that cannabis labels "must not appropriate signs or symbols associated with another Colorado business or industry."
Ski country spokeswoman Jenn Rudoplh said, "We were concerned about having the levels of marijuana impairment be associated with symbols that are so closely aligned with those of the ski industry and have been for so many years. And legislators agreed with our concerns."
· Skiing's black diamonds, green circles out for labels on edible marijuana [Denver Post]
· Ski Resorts Are Blowing Up Smoke Shacks in Colorado [Curbed Ski]
· Live The High Life in CO Ski Towns: Rent Pot Friendly Lodging [Curbed Ski]
· Aspen, Colorado Airport Has Marijuana "Amnesty" Box [Curbed Ski]