Google – AFP, Michael Thurston (AFP), 29 December 2013
A visitor
from Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands gather to celebrate the state's
medicinal marijuana laws, at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, on April
20,
2012 (Getty/AFP/File, Marc Piscotty)
|
Los Angeles
— Marijuana users in Colorado and Washington are counting down the hours before
the western US states become the first to legalize recreational pot shops on
January 1.
Blazing a
trail they hope will be followed in other parts of the United States, cannabis
growers and others are also rubbing their hands, while tax collectors are
eyeing the revenue the newly-legalized trade will generate.
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.
People
gather for a 'marijuana rally' at Civic
Center Park in Denver, Colorado, on
April
20, 2012 (Getty/AFP/File, Marc Piscotty)
|
"Over
the last month I have received somewhere between four to six emails a day and
five to 10 phone calls a day asking all about the law and when should people
plan their ski trip to go along with cannabis," he added.
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.
But
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.
Both states
legalized recreational consumption of marijuana in referendums in November last
year, but new rules coming into force on January 1 allow cannabis shops.
In
Colorado, famous for its Rocky Mountain ski resorts, officials this week issued
348 retail marijuana licenses including for small shops which from January 1
can sell up to 28 grams of pot to people aged 21 or older.
Washington
state authorities have received applications for 3,746 marijuana business
licenses, including 867 retail licenses, according to The Seattle Times
newspaper, which urged caution in an editorial.
"Legalization
of marijuana (is) a seismic change in drug-control policy, perhaps the biggest
since the end of alcohol prohibition. Supporters and skeptics need to take a
deep breath," it said.
Colorado's
branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
said 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 told AFP.
A bud of
Maui Afghooey marijuana is seen
at the PureLife Alternative Wellness Center
in
Los Angeles, on July 27, 2012 (AFP/
File, Frederic J. Brown)
|
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.
"It
looks like demand will exceed supply, so I anticipate that prices in Colorado
will go up ... But as time goes on, more businesses will open meaning there
will be more supply," he added.
Telluride
Bud Co's Raleigh compared decriminalizing pot shops to legalizing same-sex
weddings, which are now allowed in more than a third of US states.
"Give
it six months, and when other states see that the sky didn't fall and the
revenue we are producing, I believe this will spread just like gay
marriage," he said. "You just can't stop the will of the
people."
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