Legal Recreational Cannabis Industry Opens in Colorado
Crowds were serenaded by live music as they waited for the nation's first legal recreational pot shops to open. They ate doughnuts and funnel cakes as glass-blower made smoking pipes. Some tourists even rode around in limos eager to try weed.
And when the sales began, those who bought the "drug" emerged from the stores, receipts held high and carrying sealed shopping bags, to cheers.
"I'm going to frame the receipt when I go home, to remind myself of what might be possible: Legal everywhere," said musician James Aaron Ramsey, 28, who did some time in jail for pot possession in Missouri and played folk tunes with his guitar for those in line.
Activists hope he's right, and that the experiment in Colorado will prove to be a better alternative to the costly American-led drug war, produce the kind of revenue that state officials hope and save the government costs in locking up drug offenders. You would think that once other states see the numbers in black and white they won't be able to argue anymore.
On the first day, prices in some places rose to more than $500 an ounce, and some shops announced mid afternoon they would close early because of short supply. It's too soon to say whether the price spikes and long lines will persist.
Washington state will open its pot industry later this year. Both states' programs will be watched closely not just by officials in other states but by activists and governments in other countries because the industries will be the first to regulate the production and sale of cannabis.
Some countries have decriminalized, and the Netherlands lets people buy and sell it but it's illegal to grow or process it.
Uruguay is the only country to completely legalize...as of now : )
Uruguay is the only country to completely legalize...as of now : )
Just as shops opened Wednesday, the Denver Police Department tweeted, "Do you know the law?" and linked to city websites on state and local laws that include bans on public consumption, driving under the influence, taking marijuana out of state and giving pot to anyone under 21.
Denver police said one person was issued a summons for public consumption. The Colorado State Patrol reported no pot-related incidents. No pot-related incidents were reported at Denver International Airport, where signs warned travelers that they can't take it home.
At least 24 cannabis shops in eight towns opened. In Denver, pot users welcomed the new year and the new industry by firing up bongs and cheering in a cloud of marijuana smoke at a 1920s-themed "Prohibition Is Over" party — a reference to the 1930s-era law that outlawed marijuana.
Shopper Jacob Elliott said he wrote reports in college about the need to end pot prohibition but never thought it could happen in his lifetime.
"This breaks that barrier," said Elliott, who traveled to Colorado from Leesburg, Va., to be among the first to buy legal weed.
Preparation for the retail market started more than a year ago, soon after Colorado and Washington voters in 2012 approved legal pot industries. Uruguay passed a law in December to become the first nation to regulate pot, but regulatory system isn't in place yet.
Pot advocates, who had long pushed legalization as an alternative to the drug war, had argued it would generate revenue for state coffers — and in Colorado's case to support education — and save money by not locking up low-level drug offenders and non violent criminals.
"I feel good about it. The money's going to schools," said shopper Joseph Torres of Denver.
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