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HANDFUL OF POT STORES TO MAKE HISTORY JAN.  1

State to Allow Sales; 3 Shops Set to Open in Telluride

Denver, CO - Early in the morning on New Year's Day, someone in Colorado - probably in Denver - will purchase the world's first government-approved, over-the-counter recreational marijuana.

Not even in Amsterdam, where people have been buying pot in "coffee shops" for three decades, is the retail sale of marijuana fully legal and licensed.

Washington state and Uruguay also have legalized marijuana, but their first retail sales will not happen until later next year.

"It'll actually be fully legal in Colorado, at least under state law, whereas in the Netherlands, it's just tolerated," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for marijuana legalization.

Of course, people have been buying pot legally in Colorado and other states for more than a decade, thanks to medical marijuana laws.  And a number of cities, states and countries have decriminalized the possession of marijuana.  But Colorado will be the first to allow retail sales without a prescription, making it nearly as easy to pick up a joint as a bottle of wine.

On Friday, Adam Raleigh, owner of Telluride Bud Co., was busy hanging new signs and sorting his inventory into the state's new online tracking system.  He plans to be open no later than 10 a.m.  New Year's Day

"The novelty of being able to buy legal weed is going to bring a lot of people into Telluride on Jan 1," he said.

Raleigh has gotten emails from people in Texas, California, Wyoming and elsewhere from people who want to make a special trip, and he has been interviewed by British and French newspapers.  Other stores in town have been contacted by CNN and MSNBC, he said.

It won't be a celebratory day for Diana Carlson, a founder of Smart Colorado, a group that argues against liberalization of drug laws.

Opponents who attended public hearings in Denver haven't been able to prevent the city from allowing stores to open, she said.

"Legalization does not need to mean full-blown commercialization," Carlson said.

She worries that cities like Denver are rushing to license stores before protections are in place to keep pot away from children.  A medical study at Children's Hospital Colorado found that after the state started to allow medical marijuana sales, more kids went to the emergency room after unwittingly eating pot-infused cookies and brownies.

Carlson is also worried about highly potent marijuana concentrates.

"I don't think marijuana concentrates are legal anywhere in the world besides Colorado," Carlson said.

Anyone in Southwest Colorado who wants to be first in line for legal pot will have to take a long drive.  Telluride is the only town in the region that has issued licenses for stores to open on New Year's Day.

The town issued three conditional licenses at a hearing Monday, and after a final inspection, Town Attorney Kevin Geiger expects the stores to be ready to go.

All three are currently operating a medical marijuana dispensary, and Telluride Town Manager Greg Clifton doesn't expect many changes after Jan 1.

"We really haven't had issues here.  I just think it's going to be more of the same," Clifton said.

The Durango City Council adopted a moratorium on recreational pot sales until June 30.  La Plata County commissioners put in a moratorium until the end of 2014.

Only existing medical marijuana dispensaries were allowed to apply for the first round of recreational pot licenses.  Businesses need approval from both the state and their local government before they can open.

The state mailed out 348 licenses Monday, including 136 for stores.  Although state licenses went to stores in 24 different jurisdictions, the overwhelming majority, 102 stores, are in Denver.  Most of the state-licensed stores are not expected to be open Jan 1 because they still need local government approval.

"We understand that Colorado is under a microscope.  We think we've done a good job preparing for Jan 1," said Jack Finlaw, Gov John Hickenlooper's chief legal counsel.

Marijuana activists expect anywhere between five and 12 stores to be open in Denver on New Year's Day.  Stores are also set to open in the Denver suburbs of Edgewater, Glendale and Wheat Ridge, plus Pueblo County, said Mike Elliott of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group.

In addition, marijuana lawyer Brian Vicente expects to see stores in the Front Range mountain towns of Frisco, Central City, Idaho Springs and Breckenridge.