Marijuana users celebrated Wednesday as Colorado became the first US
state to allow retail cannabis sales, putting it in the vanguard of
efforts across the country to legalize the drug.
The western state famous for its
ski resorts and breathtaking mountain vistas has issued 348 retail
licenses -- including for small pot shops -- that can sell up to 28
grams of pot to people aged 21 or older.
Washington
state on the Pacific Coast will follow Colorado several months from
now, when it also allows stores to begin selling cannabis.
Iraq war veteran Sean Azzariti was the first person to legally purchase cannabis for recreational use in the United States.
"It's
an absolute honor, I couldn't be happier. It's a huge stepping stone
for other states as well, so it's a huge honor, to say the least,"
Azzariti told reporters.
Azzariti, who has campaigned to legalize weed, said marijuana helps alleviate his post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
As
America's attitudes on marijuana use evolve, Colorado and Washington
legalized recreational consumption of the drug in November 2012
referendums, but the new rules coming into force allow cannabis shops.
"It
just makes it an item of commerce, like going into a liquor store," a
gray-haired Charles Pierce, 61, told AFP at the Denver Kush Club, where
pot fans lined up in the wind and sleet for the 8:00 am (1500 GMT)
opening.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said he was proud of the city.
"I
want to thank the businesses and consumers alike for acting responsibly
and with great accountability today," he said in a statement.
"Denver is a progressive city, a vibrant city, and it's incumbent on all of us to continue getting this right," Hancock added.
State officials here anticipate that marijuana sales will generate some $67 million in annual tax revenue.
Opponents
of legalized cannabis warn that it can lead to higher rates of
marijuana use and addiction, even among young people who technically are
not sanctioned to use the drug.
They also say that marijuana
users face a raft of health and psychiatric problems, noting that pot is
often a gateway drug that can lead to abuse of more serious substances.
Supporters
hailed its legalization -- and legal sale -- in Colorado as historic,
and a possible sign of things to come elsewhere.
"The state is
demonstrating to the rest of the nation and the entire world that
regulating marijuana works," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the
Marijuana Policy Project, one of the leading backers of the ballot
initiative to legalize marijuana.
"It's only a matter of time before lawmakers and voters in more states adopt similar laws regulating marijuana like alcohol."
Colorado's branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws told AFP that everyone will benefit.
"It
will mean jobs, tax revenue for the state and local jurisdictions,
increased tourism and a developing progressive new industry in
Colorado," NORML attorney Rachel Gillette said.
Michael Elliott,
head of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, noted that Colorado has
licensed medical marijuana businesses since 2010, but said the influx of
tourists for recreational use of pot could lead to shortages.
"It's
tough to know whether supply will meet demand, mainly because it's
tough to know the impact of tourism on this new market," he said.
Tax
collectors are eyeing the revenue the newly legalized trade will
generate, while cannabis growers and others are also rubbing their hands
in anticipation.
Enterprising companies are even offering
marijuana tours to cash in on tourists expected to be attracted to a
Netherlands-style pot culture -- including in Colorado's famous ski
resorts.
"Just the novelty alone is bringing people from everywhere," said Adam Raleigh of cannabis supplier Telluride Bud Co.
Medical
marijuana is already legal and regulated in 19 US states, and has been
allowed in some cases for the past 20 years. And in most of them,
private consumption of cannabis is not classified as a crime.
Colorado
and Washington are creating a recreational market in which local
authorities will oversee growing, distribution and marketing -- all of
it legal -- for people to get high just for the fun of it.
The
market is huge: from $1.4 billion in medical marijuana in 2013, it will
grow by 64 percent to $2.34 billion in 2014 with recreational pot added
in Colorado and Washington, according to ArcView Market Research, which
tracks and publishes data on the cannabis industry.
