People are lining up around the block to legally buy marijuana for recreational purposes, according to Bloomberg. Beginning January first it will have been one year since pot was legalized in Washington and Colorado and the people are ready to buy. The lines are out the door and are around the block.
Toni Fox used to operate a pot shop for medical use, but now she is expanding her business. She gladly commented, “We’ll have people out the door. It’s going to be a very festive atmosphere. We all feel like we’re walking on sunshine right now.” She has even arranged to have heaters and pastries for her customers as they wait in line. Her shop is one of fourteen licensed to sell the drug to anyone over twenty-one. Toni expects to make a mint off of the green, or rather, that green herb will earn her greenbacks.
The legal selling of marijuana is expected to bring in sixty-seven million dollars in tax revenue and will fund the construction of schools as well as the new legal weed business. I always felt marijuana should be taxed. Now that it will be, I’m glad to see the state collect and let those revenues go into much needed areas. State and local licenses are mandatory for any business wanting to sell the legalized drug and were mailed on December twenty-third. The deadline for pre-existing medical retailers is extended to January first of 2016. The Green Solution, The Healing House Denver and The Denver Kush Club are just some of the stores opening for business. Residents with the proper identification will be allowed to purchase one ounce of pot and a quarter ounce for out of state buyers.
Marijuana will sell at one hundred ninety-six dollars an ounce in Colorado and one hundred ninety-two dollars in Washington. A spokeswoman for the Marijuana Enforcement Division, Julie Postlethwait, stated, “It will be an interesting time in Colorado in the next few months. We’ll have things shake out and settle. That will give us an opportunity to study what the face of the two segments of the marijuana industry will look like.” Under federal law the possession and sale of the drug remains illegal, but there are no plans to challenge the new state laws unless guidelines are not followed.
People in Colorado have a head start over Washington where the retail of weed won’t begin until August. There have been eight hundred sixty seven license applications sent out by December twenty-fourth, but only three hundred thirty-four will be approved. There will also be a twenty-five cents sale tax unless producer and processor licenses are granted. Times are certainly changing for everyone’s favorite drug.
Image Credit: Bloomberg