Growing marijuana at home has become safer and, some say, less popular as Colorado’s legal landscape has changed.

Under Amendment 64, Colorado residents age 21 and older may grow up to six plants at home. But many users say they aren’t growing their own.

“At the end of the day, there’s not that many people exercising their right to grow marijuana under Amendment 64 – and that’s because people can just go into a store and buy it,” said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado. “It’s like you can homebrew, but you can just go into the liquor store and buy it.”

Marijuana stores also offer a greater variety of products than any home grower can hope to match, featuring different strains, edible marijuana-laced products and accessories.

Before Amendment 64 went into effect, home marijuana grows were often haphazard, and some were blamed for causing fires. Most tragically, in 2009, a Durango man named Dan Middleton was killed when his grow operation caused a fire in his condominium.

Middleton had a medical marijuana card, but he was growing more marijuana than allowed, said Karola Hanks, fire marshal for the Durango Fire Protection District. Hanks said home marijuana grows have become less dangerous in the post-Amendment 64 landscape.

“Now that people can call in an electrician to do the wiring, and now that a lot of growers are switching to LED lights, it’s like the issues are going away, at least here locally,” she said. “I’m feeling much more comfortable, and the individuals I’ve been working with have been more than willing to be compliant with safety rules and regulations, and I appreciate that.”

The city of Durango has had no issues with the lone commercial grower within city limits, said Nicole Killian, the city’s planning manager.

Most local growers have chosen to locate outside of city limits, placing them under La Plata County’s jurisdiction. Butch Knowlton, director of the county Building Department, did not return calls seeking comment.

Some multifamily residences continue to ban marijuana grows despite changes in state law. At Hillcrest Apartments, Durango’s largest apartment development with 112 units, language in the lease agreement explicitly bars the “manufacture” of marijuana, said a representative who declined to be identified.

Landlords can also ban pot growing at home by specifying so in the lease, Vicente said.

Many homeowners associations have pre-Amendment 64 rules detailing acceptable paint colors for your home, but nothing that bars growing weed in your closet. HOA representatives weren’t eager to discuss the matter; none returned calls seeking comment.

Vicente said he expects neighborhood rules to evolve.

“Over time we think more and more communities will embrace this.”

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Durango could get pot-testing laboratory

Durango soon may have Colorado’s first marijuana-testing laboratory outside the Front Range.
Two industry veterans, Luke Mason and Tyler D’Spain, recently submitted applications to the city of Durango and the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division to start a lab in the Durango Tech Center.
Much of Colorado’s legal marijuana industry is centered around Denver, but that’s beginning to change.
Aurum Labs would add to the state’s four licensed and certified retail marijuana testing facilities. Two are in Denver, and one each is in Boulder and Wheat Ridge, according to a recent Marijuana Enforcement Division report.
Marijuana retailers and dispensaries are required to test their products for potency and purity. Manufacturers are being pushed to limit edibles to 10 milligrams of active THC per unit after some tragedies were linked to potent edibles. Most notably, a Wyoming college student jumped to his death from a Denver hotel balcony in March after eating THC-infused cookies.
In addition to potency, labs also test products for residual levels of solvents such as propane and butane, which are used to concentrate THC.
Mason said dispensaries in Durango, Pagosa Springs, Mancos and Telluride are interested in using the proposed local lab.
He said a local lab could offer faster turnaround times for Southwest Colorado retail shops and dispensaries.
“People don’t want to send money to Denver if they could keep it local,” he said.
Mason previously worked as a grower for a local dispensary. He also has a background in science, once managing a lab that tested energy-efficient light bulbs.
To allow for the lab, Mason and D’Spain had to persuade neighbors in the Tech Center to amend the center’s regulations regarding approved uses. With that done, the location – next to the Medical Horticultural Services dispensary in the 700 block of Tech Center Drive – needs approval from the Planning Commission and City Council.
As if to illustrate the dramatic changes in marijuana policy in only a few years, Aurum Labs’ proposed location is near offices used by the FBI and a regional anti-drug consortium.
“The Southwest Drug Task Force, they’re right behind us,” Mason said. “They don’t have any problems with it. They don’t care.”
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In this series

Sunday: Durango joins the crowd, allows retail marijuana to go forward.
Monday: Legal marijuana puts employers, workers in awkward position.
Today: Growing your own? Landlords can still say no.