The General
New Member
The nation's first recreational pot industry opened in Colorado on Wednesday, kicking off an experiment that will be watched closely around the world and one that activists hope will prove that legalization is a better alternative than the costly American-led drug war. Marijuana shop owners opened shoppers at 8 a.m., the last step in a retail chain that started in places like a warehouse tucked away in a blue-collar suburb north of Denver where a trio of workers had feverishly rolled hundreds of marijuana cigarettes by hand in preparation for the opening of recreational pot stores on New Year's Day.
"We expect to have 2,000 joints ready to go by the time we open on January first," said Robin Hackett, 51, co-owner of Botana Care, one of about a dozen newly licensed retailers cleared by state regulators to sell recreational pot starting on Wednesday. Hackett and fellow marijuana proprietors in Colorado are pioneers in a new chapter of America's drug culture that marks the first time cannabis will be legally produced, sold and taxed under a special system many states have long established for alcohol sales.
In fact, experts say, no such framework for commercial marijuana distribution exists anywhere else in the world. Along with Washington state, Colorado legalized possession and use of small amounts of cannabis by adults for non-medical purposes – that is, strictly for the fun of it – under a statewide ballot measure approved by voters in November 2012. But Colorado, already one of nearly 20 states with medical marijuana laws on its books, has led the way in establishing a legitimate market for recreational pot. The first businesses licensed for the new industry were shops already approved to operate as medical marijuana dispensaries.
Washington state is slated to open its own retail recreational shops later in 2014. Once Colorado's system is fully in place, state authorities project wholesale and retail sales of cannabis products will total $578 million in annual revenues, which will generate $67 million in sales tax receipts for the state.
ACLU endorses legalization
Even as Colorado and Washington move forward with their respective regulatory schemes, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, though the Obama administration has said it will give individual states leeway to permit recreational use. Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a statement that the Colorado and Washington votes marks "the beginning of the end" for marijuana prohibition at the national level.
"By legalizing marijuana, Colorado has stopped the needless and racially biased enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws," Edwards said. But opponents warned on Tuesday that legalizing the drug's recreational use in the two Western states could help create an industry intent on attracting underage users and getting more people dependent on the drug. Under Colorado law, however, state residents can only buy as much as an ounce of marijuana at a time, while out-of-state visitors are restricted to quarter-ounce purchases.
Back at Botana Care, Hackett said she expects between 800 and 1,000 customers to patronize her store on opening day. Hackett said she has 50 pounds of product on hand, and to avoid a supply shortage the shop will limit purchases to quarter-ounces on Day One, whether in joints, buds or cannabis-infused edibles such as pastries or candies.
A quarter-ounce sampler packet with seven strains of weed dubbed with such names as "King Tut" and "Gypsy Girl" – each said to produce a different kind of high - will retail for $85 to $90, including tax, Hackett said. Because there is a six-month moratorium on additional businesses applying for a second wave of retail licenses,Hackett predicts grossing $13 million in the first year. "We don't have any competition," she said.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: America.aljazeera.com
Author: Reuters
Contact: Contact Us | Al Jazeera America
Website: Huge demand expected as Colorado marijuana retailers open to the public | Al Jazeera America
"We expect to have 2,000 joints ready to go by the time we open on January first," said Robin Hackett, 51, co-owner of Botana Care, one of about a dozen newly licensed retailers cleared by state regulators to sell recreational pot starting on Wednesday. Hackett and fellow marijuana proprietors in Colorado are pioneers in a new chapter of America's drug culture that marks the first time cannabis will be legally produced, sold and taxed under a special system many states have long established for alcohol sales.
In fact, experts say, no such framework for commercial marijuana distribution exists anywhere else in the world. Along with Washington state, Colorado legalized possession and use of small amounts of cannabis by adults for non-medical purposes – that is, strictly for the fun of it – under a statewide ballot measure approved by voters in November 2012. But Colorado, already one of nearly 20 states with medical marijuana laws on its books, has led the way in establishing a legitimate market for recreational pot. The first businesses licensed for the new industry were shops already approved to operate as medical marijuana dispensaries.
Washington state is slated to open its own retail recreational shops later in 2014. Once Colorado's system is fully in place, state authorities project wholesale and retail sales of cannabis products will total $578 million in annual revenues, which will generate $67 million in sales tax receipts for the state.
ACLU endorses legalization
Even as Colorado and Washington move forward with their respective regulatory schemes, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, though the Obama administration has said it will give individual states leeway to permit recreational use. Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a statement that the Colorado and Washington votes marks "the beginning of the end" for marijuana prohibition at the national level.
"By legalizing marijuana, Colorado has stopped the needless and racially biased enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws," Edwards said. But opponents warned on Tuesday that legalizing the drug's recreational use in the two Western states could help create an industry intent on attracting underage users and getting more people dependent on the drug. Under Colorado law, however, state residents can only buy as much as an ounce of marijuana at a time, while out-of-state visitors are restricted to quarter-ounce purchases.
Back at Botana Care, Hackett said she expects between 800 and 1,000 customers to patronize her store on opening day. Hackett said she has 50 pounds of product on hand, and to avoid a supply shortage the shop will limit purchases to quarter-ounces on Day One, whether in joints, buds or cannabis-infused edibles such as pastries or candies.
A quarter-ounce sampler packet with seven strains of weed dubbed with such names as "King Tut" and "Gypsy Girl" – each said to produce a different kind of high - will retail for $85 to $90, including tax, Hackett said. Because there is a six-month moratorium on additional businesses applying for a second wave of retail licenses,Hackett predicts grossing $13 million in the first year. "We don't have any competition," she said.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: America.aljazeera.com
Author: Reuters
Contact: Contact Us | Al Jazeera America
Website: Huge demand expected as Colorado marijuana retailers open to the public | Al Jazeera America
