Denver Newspaper Seeks Marijuana Critic

Many newspapers have food critics or even wine critics, but an alternative weekly in Denver is tapping into the interests of its own audience demographics by seeking a critic to review the city’s medical marijuana scene.

CBS News reported Oct. 5 that the Westword weekly newspaper is looking for someone to write about medical-marijuana dispensaries in the Denver area as part of its “Mile High and Lows” column.

“It is the wild west of medical marijuana out here,” said Westword Editor Patricia Calhoun. “There were a couple of dozen dispensaries this spring, and now it’s over 100. We just heard there’s going to be a drive-through dispensary.”

So far there are no plans to review marijuana quality — just the overall experience at the dispensaries — but that could change. Candidates for the writing job need to have a medical need that allows them to legally acquire marijuana.

“We want to see what kind of place it is, how well they care for you and also how sketchy the place is,” Calhoun said. “Do they actually look at your medical marijuana card? Do they let you slip some cash under the counter and bypass the rules?”