Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jan 2014
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Rory Carroll

HIGH TIMES IN DENVER AS DOPE MADE LEGAL

Sees Recreational Cannabis Sales Permitted in a Move That Could Be As 
Radical As the End of Alcohol Prohibition

Tim Cullen gave up being a high school biology teacher to enter the 
marijuana business after he and his father were diagnosed with 
Crohn's disease. He used his knowledge of botany to grow and harvest 
plants, which treated the condition and eased the pain, and built a 
business out of it.

By coincidence around the same time the TV show Breaking Bad depicted 
a fictional high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, morphing 
into a meth drug lord after being diagnosed with cancer.

Growing and selling pot for medicinal purposes was legal in Colorado 
but had a shadowy, seedy image. Cullen did not broadcast his career 
switch. "I didn't tell former colleagues. I kept it to myself. I was 
afraid how people would judge - not necessarily me, I've a thick skin 
- - but my son."

That fear melted yesterday when Colorado became the first 
jurisdiction in the world to legalise recreational cannabis sales, 
shining a spotlight on Cullen and dozens of other retailers across the state.

"The genie is fully out of the bottle. If people don't like it, well, 
I'm not going to care about it any more," beamed Cullen, 41, as staff 
at his Denver store, Evergreen Apothecary, dealt with a deluge of 
customers who had queued from midnight, braving wind and ice, to be 
first in line when the store opened at 8am.

Similar scenes unfolded across the state where an estimated 37 stores 
with recreational licences opened to lines of people, many of whom 
had travelled across the US to be, as they put, part of history.

"Everyone should be here. This is going to be a turning point in the 
drug war. A beginning of the peace," said Darren Austin, 44, who had 
driven from Georgia and joined a celebratory crowd at the 3D Cannabis 
store. His son, Tyler, 21, who like his father had painted his face 
green, held a sign saying "About time".

Behind them waited Savannah Edwards, 21, a teacher who had driven 
overnight from Lubbock, Texas. "I'm here not so much for the 
marijuana as the history." Just as people reminisced about Woodstock, 
she would be telling this story half a century from now, she said.

Activists, customers and media huddled at the store amid falling snow 
for the ceremonial first sale. "It's 8am. I'm going to do it," said 
Toni Fox, the owner of 3D Cannabis, prompting cheers.

The first customer was Sean Azzariti, an Iraq war veteran who 
featured in pro-legalisation campaign ads. He bought an eighth of an 
ounce of an Indica strain called Bubba Kush and some 
marijuana-infused truffles. Total price, $ 59.74, including 21.22% 
sales tax. Cynthia Johnston, 69, an activist, bought two pre-rolled 
joints ($10 each) and an eighth of an ounce of Sour Diesel. "I've 
been working towards this moment since 1979," she grinned. "Now, 
where can I smoke?"

Not in public spaces and not, according to notices which sprouted 
overnight, in many hotels. Pot must be consumed in private and cannot 
be transported over state lines, putting some restraints on the 
expected tourism boom.

Fears of joint-toking throngs in the street did not materialise . 
Police said crowds were orderly and respectful.

The festive atmosphere continued at Cullen's Evergreen Apothecary 
store, which served coffee and played reggae music. Cullen said his 
son would have e no reason to be ashamed as he grows up  unlike 
Breaking Bad's family trauma. "It'll be no big deal when he learns 
what dad does for a living."

Supporters and opponents of Colorado's initiative agreed it is a 
landmark challenge to decades of "drug war" dogma a which is expected 
to embolden other r states to follow suit, potentially heralding - a 
shift as radical as the end of alcohol l prohibition in 1933.

Colorado voted to allow recreational l pot sales in a ballot 
initiative in the e November 2012 general election, as did d voters 
in Washington state. Uruguay also recently decided to legalise. As 
the first to put the law into practice the Rocky Mountain state is a 
laboratory commanding global attention. After Washington, activists 
in Alaska, Oregon and Nevada hope they will be next.

"This is a very momentous occasion. A huge milestone in the movement 
to end marijuana prohibition," said Mason Tvert, communications 
director for the Marijuana Policy Project. In the Netherlands sale 
and consumption of pot is tolerated in "coffee shops", but the drug 
is not formally legalised for selling or growing, a crucial 
distinction, he said.

As more stores start selling recreational pot  there are 348 
recreational pot licences, comprising 136 for retail stores, 178 for 
cultivation, 31 for infused edibles and other spin-off products, and 
three for testing  Colorado will face a big question. Will it be seen 
as a showcase for a responsible industry that obviates mass 
incarceration for minor drug offences and generates hundreds of 
millions of dollars, or will it be deemed a fiasco, evidence that the 
US's 1937 marijuana ban was wise after all? If the latter, federal 
authorities could curb the experiment as federal law still bans the substance.

Much hinges on the ability of Colorado's dispensaries to adapt. From 
serving a relatively stable pool of 110,000 patients with medicinal 
red cards those with recreational licences must now serve a much 
bigger, fluid market while jumping through myriad new regulatory 
hoops intended to track every marijuana plant from seed to sale.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom