Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jan 2014 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2014 Associated Press Contact: http://www.utsandiego.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386 Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area. Author: Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press COLO. POT SHOPS SEE HOT START Throngs Gather Outside Stores, Prices Jump As Legal Recreational Marijuana Industry Opens DENVER (AP) - Crowds were serenaded by live music as they waited for the nation's first legal recreational pot shops to open. They ate doughnuts and funnel cakes as a glassblower made smoking pipes. Some tourists even rode around in a limo, eager to try weed but not so eager to be seen buying it. And when the sales began, those who bought the drug emerged from the stores, receipt held high and carrying sealed shopping bags, to cheers. "I'm going to frame the receipt when I go home, to remind myself of what might be possible: Legal everywhere," said musician James Aaron Ramsey, 28, who did some time in jail for pot possession in Missouri and played folk tunes with his guitar for those in line on Wednesday. Activists hope he's right, and that the experiment in Colorado will prove to be a better alternative to the costly American-led drug war, produce the kind of revenue that state officials hope and save the government costs in locking up drug offenders. On the first day, prices in some places rose to more than $500 an ounce, and some shops closed by midafternoon because of short supply. It's too soon to say whether the price spikes and long lines will persist. Washington state will open its pot industry later this year. Both states' programs will be watched closely - not just by officials in other states - but by activists and governments in other countries because the industries will be the first to regulate the production and sale of the drug. Some countries have decriminalized the drug, and the Netherlands lets people buy and sell it, but it's illegal to grow or process it. Just as shops opened Wednesday, the Denver Police Department tweeted, "Do you know the law?" and linked to city websites on state and local laws that include bans on public consumption, driving under the influence, taking marijuana out of state and giving pot to anyone younger than 21. Denver police said one person was issued a summons for public consumption. The Colorado State Patrol reported no pot-related incidents. No pot-related incidents were reported at Denver International Airport, where signs warned travelers they can't take the drug home. At least 24 pot shops in eight towns opened. In Denver, pot users welcomed the new year and the new industry by firing up bongs and cheering in a cloud of marijuana smoke at a 1920s-themed "Prohibition Is Over" party - a reference to the 1930s-era law that outlawed marijuana. Shopper Jacob Elliott said he wrote reports in college about the need to end pot prohibition, but never thought it could happen in his lifetime. "This breaks that barrier," said Elliott, who traveled to Colorado from Leesburg, Va., to be among the first to buy legal weed. Preparation for the retail market started more than a year ago, soon after Colorado and Washington voters in 2012 approved legal pot industries. Uruguay passed a law in December to become the first nation to regulate pot, but the regulatory system isn't in place. The price for high-quality weed at some shops was around $400 an ounce. That's about four times what smokers are paying on the black market in Colorado, according to crowd-sourced Internet surveys. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom