{"id":2454013,"date":"2020-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=320227"},"modified":"2020-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T07:00:00","slug":"cannabis-companys-signs-dotting-highway-82-near-aspen-are-legal-through-cdot-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/cannabis-companys-signs-dotting-highway-82-near-aspen-are-legal-through-cdot-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis company\u2019s signs dotting Highway 82 near Aspen are legal through CDOT program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Adopt A Highway signs sponsored by a Western Slope cannabis farm Calwhinnie have been installed along Highway 82 in the Aspen area. The signs, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue, are legal.<\/strong>
Carolyn Sackariason \/ The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

State-approved Adopt-a-Highway signs advertising a non-local marijuana farm that have sprung up on Highway 82 near Aspen in recent months have prompted complaints from residents and Pitkin County\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a community we are trying to discourage use of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs among our youth and youth who are visiting,\u201d according to a December letter from Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock to a state transportation official. \u201cClearly CDOT throwing the credibility of state government behind advertising for a marijuana business works against these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peacock also asked for information about how often the sponsored areas are actually cleaned up \u2014 some of the segments are currently cleaned by volunteer county employees \u2014 and why the county wasn\u2019t consulted about the program when the large signs don\u2019t meet local sign codes and are unsafely installed, according to his letter to Kathy Hall, a Grand Junction-based member of the state Transportation Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, Pitkin (County) supports innovative partnerships and understands CDOT\u2019s funding challenges,\u201d Peacock wrote in the Dec. 18 letter. \u201cHowever, this appears to be a partnership that was rolled out hastily and as a result will vex local communities (I\u2019m sure we\u2019re not the only one complaining).\u201d<\/p>\n

The signs \u2014 which read \u201cClean Colorado Sponsored By Dalwhinnie Colorado Cannabis\u201d \u2013 popped up late last year in more than 10 spots along both sides of Highway 82 mostly between the county landfill and the Aspen airport.<\/p>\n

The signs are larger than previous \u201cAdopt a Highway\u201d signs, which had a small columbine logo and were unobtrusive, Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper said. The new signs also appear to be mounted on wooden, non-breakaway posts that don\u2019t conform to CDOT design standards, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not built correctly for public safety,\u201d Clapper said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re like a billboard on the highway. That\u2019s a scenic issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his letter, Peacock pointed out that Pitkin County \u201chas not allowed billboards or highway advertisements for any business, local or not, for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clapper, who has received complaints about the signs from county residents, also said she thinks the marijuana farm\u2019s sponsorship might violate state law prohibiting marijuana advertising.<\/p>\n

However, that is not the case. There\u2019s no problem with marijuana businesses sponsoring the Adopt a Highway program, said Shannon Gray, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is permitted for legal marijuana businesses to sponsor CDOT\u2019s Adopt a Highway signs,\u201d she said in an email last week to The Aspen Times.<\/p>\n

Dalwhinnie Farms is a marijuana farm located in Ridgway, which is about halfway between Montrose and Ouray on U.S. Highway 550. It is not located in or near Aspen or the Roaring Fork Valley. Dalwhinnie asked to sponsor the areas of Highway 82 where their signs are installed and CDOT approved the request, said Elise Thatcher, a CDOT spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The company pays between $325 and $500 a year per segment sponsored, she said in an email last week.<\/p>\n

Jenny Diggles, chief strategy and brand officer for a biotechnology company that\u2019s licensing the Dalwhinnie Farms name, said Thursday that her company chose Highway 82 because it has been planning for several months to open a dispensary in Aspen and wants to show support for the community. The dispensary \u2014 to be called Dalwhinnie Farms \u2014 will be located on Mill Street next to Mi Chola, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here in Aspen and we wanted to support Aspen (through the Adopt-a-Highway program),\u201d Diggles said.<\/p>\n

Like the Silverpeak Dispensary, the Dalwhinnie store, which will be located on the street level, will emphasize luxury branding, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose Aspen because we really wanted to have a base to launch the brand with an emphasis on luxury,\u201d Diggles said. \u201cWe think there\u2019s a lot of room for that luxury approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company hoped to try to open the dispensary last summer, then in the fall, though the timetable has been pushed forward as officials work out the logistics, she said.<\/p>\n

If and when the Dalwhinnie shop opens, it will mark the third building in Aspen containing two pot dispensaries. The Green Solution dispensary is located upstairs from the Dalwhinnie space. Silverpeak and Best Day Ever are located in the same building, as are Euflora and the Green Joint.<\/p>\n

Thatcher said that CDOT makes no money from the Adopt a Highway program, which instead saves the state money and provides a cleaner environment. The Adopt A Highway Corporation, headquartered in California, provides the cleanup services for the program and removed 19,760 cubic yards of trash from Colorado highways in 2018, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCDOT is able to reduce the effort and budget needed for these areas and is able to shift its forces elsewhere,\u201d Thatcher said.<\/p>\n

Beyond those specifics, however, the county\u2019s other questions about the sign size and installation and why the county wasn\u2019t notified of the program before the signs were installed went unanswered.<\/p>\n

\u201cCDOT will continue working with Pitkin County to address the county\u2019s concerns and make sure all parties have a full understanding of the rights and responsibilities that are part of the Adopt a Highway program,\u201d Thatcher said in the email.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adopt A Highway signs sponsored by a Western Slope cannabis farm Calwhinnie have been installed along Highway 82 in the Aspen area. The signs, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue, are legal.Carolyn Sackariason \/ The Aspen Times State-approved Adopt-a-Highway signs advertising a non-local marijuana farm that have sprung up on Highway 82 near Aspen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 17:58:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}