Serving the community since 1926
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 28, 2024
VOLUME 97 | ISSUE 52
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SPECIAL HOMETOWN HOLIDAYS EDITION
Woman’s Press Club fetes its home of 100 years Psychedelic
program gets final tweaks as state plans 2025 launch
BY KIRSTEN DAHL COLLINS SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
No one’s sure if the Denver Woman’s Press Club (DWPC) in Capitol Hill is haunted. But if it is, the ghosts might include flamboyant reporter and gossip columnist Polly Pry, celebrated etching artist George Elbert Burr and various 1920s society women who loved to dress up as flamenco dancers, harem ladies and French monarchs. DWPC recently celebrated 100 years in its historic home, where journalists, novelists, playwrights and poets have been gathering since it was first purchased in 1924. Once a famous artist’s studio, the 1910 brick building now sits in a parking lot at 1325 Logan St. It dates from an era when female journalists had no place to meet. The Denver Press Club, founded in 1867, did not admit women until the mid-1960s. For years, DWPC meetings rotated among the homes of wealthy patrons. Enter George Elbert Burr, an artist nationally celebrated for his etchings of Colorado, who designed and built 1325 Logan St. as his home and studio. DWPC acquired the house from Burr when he moved to Arizona for his health. At last, Denver’s female journalists had a home—and they paid off the mortgage with a series of Jazz Age extravaganzas that attracted the rich and famous. Because female journalists often wrote the society columns, they were courted by prominent Denver socialites like Louise Crawford Hill. “These society people wanted their names in the paper,” said Gail Beaton, archives chairman of DWPC. SEE PRESS CLUB, P13
Colorado’s rollout will be closely watched as a national model BY JASON BLEVINS THE COLORADO SUN
A poster advertises the first Denver Woman’s Press Club ball exudes 1920s glamor. The costume ball raised enough money to help the press club acquire its Capitol Hill clubhouse, which is still in use today. COURTESY OF DENVER WOMAN’S PRESS CLUB
VOICES: 12 | CALENDAR: 17
Colorado regulators are making final tweaks to a pioneering program overseeing licensed facilitators and manufacturers who will launch the state into the rarified realm of psychedelic-assisted therapies next year. Following the voter-approved Proposition 122 in 2022 and dozens of public meetings, the 107 pages of regulations around the groundbreaking program were crafted by the 14 members of the Natural Medicine Advisory Board who were appointed by Gov. Jared Polis and include experts in psychedelic medicine and traditional medical care. Colorado’s rollout will be closely watched as a national model as the federal government navigates the waning years of a more than 50-year drug war and steps back from approving drug-assisted psychotherapy. The Federal Drug Administration in August rejected a nearly 40-year effort to use MDMA as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. The 22-month planning process has divided oversight of psilocybin-assisted therapies between the Department of Regulatory Agencies, or DORA, and the Department of Revenue. Both those state agencies approved final rules in June and August and the Natural Medicine Division will begin accepting license applications Dec. 31. “Overall they have been really thoughtful about the rules and I think we have ended up in a really good place,” said Tasia Poinsatte, Colorado SEE LAUNCH, P8
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