Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i 5280 Magazine

Eric Roza arrived for the flight that would change his life wearing the casual uniform of a former tech CEO: a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. He parked his Tesla at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, greeted his traveling companion, David Woods, and boarded the private jet of embattled CrossFit founder and CEO Greg Glassman. It was June 2020. Earlier that month, Glassman had become embroiled in controversy after responding to an email from a gym owner concerned about the company’s silence regarding racial injustice. “I sincerely believe that quarantine has impacted your mental health,” Glassman wrote. Days later, he replied “It’s FLOYD-19” to a tweet that called racism a public health crisis. Almost immediately, gym owners, sponsors, and elite CrossFit athletes began loudly decrying the fitness brand. Companies dropped…

INTERNATIONAL DAB DAY Also known as Oil Day, 710—which, flipped upside down, old-school calculator style, reads like “oil”—is to the dabbing set what 420 (or April 20) is to, well, everyone else. Celebrated since about 2012, the occasion has become more well known as concentrates have become readily available. Before legalization in Colorado and Washington led to commercial labs, creating cannabis oils was dangerous because the process necessitated working with combustible solvents, often in someone’s basement or backyard shed. Today, high-THC concentrates and extracts make up about 30 percent of the inventory on most dispensaries’ shelves.…

Just because you think your teenagers don’t have the wherewithal to buy concentrates—much less a dab rig—doesn’t mean they can’t improvise ways to do both. If you’ve been finding soda cans or water bottles cut in half; if you’re missing butter knives from your drawers; if you’ve found unwound paperclips; if you can’t find your crème brûlée torch…your 15-year-old might be more resourceful than you realize. All of these items can be used to fashion a homemade dab rig. “You need to be paying attention to these things,” says Denver Health’s Dr. Christian Thurstone. “It’s reasonable that if you see something funny that you trust your gut and investigate.” What else should you be looking for? Lighters, small glass or silicone jars, and parchment sheets can be clues your kid…

Because the federal government classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, studying marijuana in the United States is a difficult—and frustrating—endeavor. Universities that rely on federal funding are loath to risk losing that cash to research marijuana on campus. Furthermore, any institution that does want to study cannabis must go through the feds to procure product; however, the cannabis grown at federally designated facilities rarely has THC concentrations higher than five or 10 percent. “There is a large body of research about what lower THC concentrations do and don’t impact,” says Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor at Children’s Hospital Colorado who is also board certified in medical toxicology. “But there is a paucity of literature about the impacts of high-THC doses on health.” Still, many health professionals…

AMEND MEDICAL CARDS Parents with kids who’ve been impacted negatively by cannabis point to a lax system that has encouraged medical cards as a rite of passage for 18-year-olds. If Governor Jared Polis signs House Bill 21-1317, starting on January 1, 2022, it would require new patients between 18 and 20 to consult—in person—with two doctors from different practices instead of just one before obtaining a red card. The language in HB 1317 would also limit the amount 18- to 20-year-olds can buy and change how a physician certifies a medical card. “Medical marijuana should be treated like any other physician-prescribed drug,” state Representative Yadira Caraveo, one of the bill’s sponsors, says. With that in mind, she wants certain information to accompany a medical card: date of issue, effective date,…

SHOTGUN A BEER WHENEVER… The video of Dinger, the Rockies’ purple triceratops mascot, hatching out of an egg is televised. (If they don’t show it, look it up. You won’t regret it.) Someone not from Colorado makes a joke about marijuana. Alternatively, take a 2.5-milligram edible; when in Rome…. A long montage of exciting moments from the All-Star Game in 1998, the last time the Midsummer Classic was hosted in the Mile High City, begins rolling. FINISH YOUR DRINK EACH TIME… The Nolan Arenado trade is called one of the worst in baseball history. (Pour some out as a farewell to general manager Jeff Bridich.) Peyton Manning is onscreen. A Rockies batter (the host team gets to send at least one player) either strikes out or gets walked. An angry…

2011 June After placing a close second in a 10-way race, then City Councilman Hancock cruises to a runoff victory against Chris Romer with 58 percent of the vote. July Hancock launches the Peak Performance program on his first day in office to make city government more efficient. The initiative—which uses techniques from the manufacturing industry to eliminate waste and optimize output—will go on to save Denver more than $25 million by 2017. 2012 May The City Council passes a Hancock-backed ban on unauthorized urban camping, which critics say effectively criminalizes homelessness. In 2019, a county judge will rule it unconstitutional, sparking an ongoing legal battle. 2015 May After a four-way race with a former punk rocker, a dancer and arts activist, and a retired Black Panther and florist, Hancock…

There was no escaping it for the 17-year-old. Weed was everywhere at her Pueblo-area high school. It was in the school parking lot. It was there during free periods. It was at every party. It was everywhere she went. “As a parent,” says LaFonna Pacheco, the young woman’s mother, “it was like pushing the ocean back with a broom. Kids with medical marijuana cards were pushing shatter in her face.” It’s not just parents who say they’re struggling to keep high-THC concentrates away from their kids: School districts are battling too. Their biggest fight? In what has become a rite of passage in Colorado, high school seniors turn 18, apply for medical marijuana cards under bogus pretenses, purchase two ounces per day, and then sell legally purchased cannabis to other…

Chris Baker* believes THC was a serious problem, but it wasn’t his only problem. At 16, he was struggling with attention deficit and executive function disorders. He was having a hard time with some dysfunction at home and experiencing depression, which runs in his family. He says he would drink alcohol as a salve, but then a friend with a medical marijuana card opened the dispensary door to cannabis. “I got high to escape,” Baker says, “but also to feel like I had arrived. I could be social. I could be me.” Then he got caught up in it. He couldn’t control his usage. And why would he? “The sheer amount children can get access to in a day is crazy,” he says. “We’d go from one dispensary to the…

The Alliance Française de Denver, a Paris-based nonprofit that’s been teaching Denverites the French language since 1897, was finally set to resume regular operations at its Baker headquarters when, in early June, disaster struck: The building’s north-facing wall collapsed, delaying the organization’s return to inperson classes. The Alliance is working to find alternative spaces to celebrate the French culture (check in with the group on Facebook for updates and ways to help). In the meantime, executive director Zoé Hess gave us a tour of local French fun to help ease the pain. Cue the accordion music. LA VIE EN ROSE Sure, jazz and blues are American inventions, but some Francophone musicians in Denver have meshed those gritty and pliable art forms with French traditions. Nicolas Busquet, whose influences include Georges…

Brasserie Brixton is finally operating as the bustling neighborhood hangout it was destined to be—just nearly a year later than expected. Owners Justin Morse, Amy Keil, and Matt Daniels and chef Nick Dalton debuted the restaurant in July 2020, aiming to bring the charm of an intimate and affordable Parisian bistro to the Cole neighborhood. Then indoor seating limits squashed their visions of patrons packing around the sleek marble-topped bar and gathering around the chef’s counter for steak frites and glasses of wine. The team pivoted to a takeout-only concept called Le Brix Pizza and Wine for the winter, but as vaccines were administered and the weather warmed, Brasserie Brixton triumphantly relaunched Dalton’s dinner menu of small plates and made-for-sharing dishes, such as crispy-skinned roast chicken accompanied by a tangy…

PRUNING & MYELINATION What We Do Know: A process called synaptic pruning begins during early childhood and continues into young adulthood. This streamlining of neural circuitry is likely responsible for the expansion of cognitive skills—necessary for adulting—seen in the late teens and early 20s. Myelination, or the coating of neurons with a protective sheath, helps the connections work better. The brain essentially removes inefficient connections and improves effective ones to create a more powerful system. However, recent studies suggest low blood flow and inactivity in the brain caused by marijuana use can cause abnormal pruning and myelination mishaps. What We Don’t Know: Some scientists theorize that mental health conditions that often emerge in late adolescence—like schizophrenia—may result from atypical pruning, but more research is necessary to determine if aberrant pruning…

Yadira Caraveo says she’s seen a thing or two in her pediatrics practice over the years. But until recently, she hadn’t seen what’s often called “scromiting.” “The medical term is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome,” the pediatrician-cum-state representative from Adams County says, “but that terminology doesn’t illustrate how bad it is.” Caraveo says the uncontrollable vomiting—which is sometimes paired with screaming, hence scromiting—was disturbing. The calls she’s received from Colorado parents in her role as a legislator were equally distressing. Until those conversations, Caraveo says she didn’t fully understand what products were out there, much less that THC concentrations in flower in Colorado routinely test higher than 20 percent, technically making most bud high-concentration as well. With that information, Caraveo says she began a discovery process in summer 2020 that resulted in…

If your kid suddenly begins exhibiting some or all of these behaviors or signs, you may have reason to suspect substance abuse: Extreme isolating in the bedroom Atypical performance problems at school or refusal to go to school at all Changes in friends Behavior changes, especially acute irritability, aggression, hyperactivity, or unusual elation Exaggerated efforts to keep family members away from personal belongings Abrupt disinterest in favorite activities or pastimes Sleeplessness followed by long periods of sleep Changes to appearance (disheveled, unwashed, flushed) and physical health (nosebleeds, vomiting, frequent perspiration)…

BY LATE MARCH OF LAST YEAR, DARCY LUNDSTROM KNEW SHE WOULDN’T BE BOARDING ANY OF THE FLIGHTS she’d booked for April and May. The girlfriend getaway to Las Vegas, the vacation with her daughter to Orlando, Florida, and the visit with family in Fargo, North Dakota, all seemed pointless and risky once the COVID-19 pandemic had closed tourist attractions and public health officials preached the gospel of isolation. So when Frontier Airlines emailed the Loveland resident and offered her $250 in bonus credit for the three itineraries she’d booked, on the condition that she cancel her upcoming trips and accept their $959.98 value in credit, she jumped at the opportunity. As a frequent Frontier customer and annual subscriber to the company’s Discount Den, which offers access to the airline’s lowest…

PRICE KEY (Average Entrée) $ UNDER $10 $$ $11 TO $15 $$$ $16 TO $ 2 5 $$$$ $ 26 AND HIGHER. SYMBOL KEY NEW Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened). 25 BEST Indicates inclusion in 5280’s 2019 list of Denver’s best restaurants; we did not release a 2020 list due to COVID-19 disruptions and closures. These selections are at the discretion of 5280 editors and are subject to change. A NEW Adobo at First Draft $$ RiNo / Latin-Asian Chef Blaine Baggao draws inspiration from his Filipino heritage and childhood in Roswell, New Mexico, to produce Latin-Asian specialties inside First Draft Taproom & Kitchen. 1309 26th St., 720-520-7869. Lunch, Dinner 25 BEST Annette $$$ Aurora /…