Lessons from ‘The Green Rush’ with the Denver Post’s first cannabis editor, Ricardo Baca

Ten years ago on New Year's Day, the first recreational cannabis dispensaries opened their doors to long lines of excited people. Those first few years were known as "The Green Rush" – but now, with sales and revenue dipping from their highest point, some are wondering what the next decade will bring for the industry.

Ricardo Baca is among those close observers. The former journalist spent three years as the Denver Post's first-ever marijuana editor, even though he had only just tried edibles for himself.

“When the editor in chief of the Post came to me and said, ‘Hey, we want you to be the weed editor,’ I said, ‘You know that I'm not the biggest stoner in the newsroom right now.’ And they're like, ‘Oh, yeah, we know. And that's part of the reason we want you,’” Baca remembered.

Baca’s focus is still on cannabis, but he’s got some skin in the game now with the aptly-named marketing agency he founded, Grasslands. He joined host Erin O’Toole to share what it was like covering Colorado’s cannabis industry during its infancy.