High Times magazine's flagship event, the U.S. Cannabis Cup, is relocating from Colorado to California next month, The Cannabist has learned.

Colorado's first-of-its-kind marijuana laws allowed the event to grow into the largest High Times Cannabis Cup in the world, drawing up to 35,000 visitors each day in April 2015 at the Denver Mart in Adams County. But after Adams County commissioners last month rejected High Times' permit for this year's U.S. Cannabis Cup, organizers announced a tentative move about 100 miles south to Pueblo - where the Cup ran into more regulatory issues and concerns over timing.

After the multiple clashes with county governments in Colorado, High Times decided to relocate the event to the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, Calif., for April 15-17, a High Times representative confirmed to The Cannabist. The venue recently wrapped a two-weekend run for the the SoCal Medical Cannabis Cup earlier this year.

The Cannabist obtained an e-mail allegedly sent by a High Times staffer to businesses that had purchased exhibition space at the U.S. Cannabis Cup that spelled out the event's move - and its intentions to expand an affiliated and already scheduled Colorado concert to include an award ceremony.

There will not be a Cannabis Cup in Pueblo, Colorado, but we will be hosting a one-day Colorado Cannabis Cup award show in Denver on April 19th, the e-mail says. There will be 7,500 people in attendance from across the spectrum, consumers, producers and business owners. Cypress Hill, Action Bronson, Cronixx and Parliament Funkadelic will be performing at this event.

The U.S. Cannabis Cup will be held at Southern California on April 15-17th, and we're expecting 25,000 in attendance.

The Colorado event mentioned is a High Times Cannabis Cup-related concert at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield that was first announced in late-January.

High Times editor-in-chief Dan Skye said the magazine's negotiations with Pueblo County were friendly and progress was being made but our busy calendar of upcoming events persuaded us that the better decision was to host a full Cannabis Cup in Colorado at a later date.

The simple fact is that, regardless of the tremendous strides that our community has made in legalizing cannabis, there's still a long way to go It's been said: 'Legalization of cannabis is a marathon - not a sprint.' Only four states currently allow adult, recreational use of cannabis. And although more states are placing the issue of legalization before voters in November, there is still a great deal of education necessary in order to make cannabis truly a part of mainstream American life.

MMJ America owner Jake Salazar, who sponsored the 2015 U.S. Cannabis Cup in Colorado, was frustrated to learn about the event's relocation to California, saying that Colorado's economy will miss out on the tourist spending associated with the event.

It's ridiculous, Salazar said. This community definitely benefits from having these nonviolent visitors come in and enjoy the freedoms that we have in Colorado, and they support other businesses - not just the cannabis businesses. The restaurants, hotels, convention centers and music and entertainment venues will miss out, too.

The Cup is an all-out good thing. You don't hear about a lot of bad things happening on that weekend. But it's a different story when you talk about the (Great American) Beer Festival and you have guys throwing up and getting in fights all weekend long. These guys attending the Cannabis Cup will go out to the bars while they're here, but they're cool customers. They're just here to enjoy the products.

High Times officials have said they hope to bring the U.S. Cup back to Colorado in the future.

I'm hopeful we can do the U.S. Cannabis Cup in Colorado, for sure, High Times chief operating officer Larry Linietsky told The Denver Post earlier this week.

Source: http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/03/08/high-times-cannabis-cup-colorado-california-2016/49723