New Options Wellness Clinic, a Boulder marijuana dispensary, had a real buzzkill last week when a group of robbers held up the operation and made off with two large tubs of marijuana. Things are looking up this week, however. Not only have the police identified four suspects in connection with the robbery (David Henderson, 40, of Denver; Justin St. John, 29, of Denver; Walter Carter, 21, of Aurora; and Lamar McGee, 22, of Lakewood), but the cops have also apparently obtained the stolen weed -- and at 4 p.m. today, they're supposed to be giving it back to the dispensary.

"The medical marijuana from the robbery last week at the dispensary is going to be returned to my client at four o'clock this afternoon in Boulder," reports Warren Edson, a Denver-based medical marijuana legal consultant who represents several Colorado dispensaries. That's good news not just for the New Options and their hard-up clients, but also for marijuana activists statewide. It's a big day when the cops will hand over that much marijuana -- and so quickly -- especially considering the feds still consider the stuff completely illegal.

With developments like this -- and the fact that a prominent "walk-in dispensary" opened in University Hill yesterday -- Boulder may be positioning itself as the Humboldt County of Colorado. Then again, as we reported in our February 4 story, "Medical Marijuana Has Become a Growth Industry in Colorado," similar developments are happening all over the place. And at least in the People's Republic of Boulder, the cops seem to be saying that's A-okay.