Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jan 2014
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Copyright: 2014 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford
Column: CannaBiz

MILLIONS IN SALES FROM GREEN WEDNESDAY, AIRPORT POT BANS AND MORE

A day (un)like any other

So Jan. 1 has come and gone, and we've all grown used to the armored
Drug Enforcement agents on every corner imposing the martial law that
Comrade Obama ordered into effect after the advent of
Doobie-geddon.

OK, that didn't happen. Actually, the day really brought nothing more
remarkable than the fact that dispensaries across the state sold a ton
of weed - around $1 million worth per day, said a few reports, and
that's with only a relative handful of shops open.

As of Monday, a call to the Denver Kush Club revealed that lines were
still out the door, though waits were down from multiple hours to
around 30 minutes, while prices have increased everywhere: At DKC, for
instance, an eighth is back to 2010 prices of around $60. (And that's
without the state's special sales tax, the state's regular sales tax
and Denver's sales tax.) Others were said to have sold out of stock
completely.

CNN reports that Colorado seems to be just the beginning, with Alaska,
Oregon, Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and Nevada
all expected to run recreational-marijuana ballot issues in 2016, in
part because of successes in these parts.

Meanwhile, "thinly traded and volatile" marijuana stocks rose in the
days following legalization, FOX Business reported; the Denver Post
said Monday that High Times magazine would create a $100 million
private-equity fund to invest $2 million to $5 million at a time in
Colorado marijuana; and the Wyoming Highway Patrol issued this
all-caps statement last Thursday: "DO NOT BRING YOUR COLORADO
PURCHASED MARIJUANA INTO WYOMING."

Of course, some people seemed to feel a little used by the party side
of Colorado's cannabis industry. "Hug a Patient in Colorado on Jan.
1," read one image on a Facebook page. "All the marijuana sold by
Retail Marijuana Stores on January 1 will have been provided courtesy
of Colorado's 100,000+ registered medical marijuana patients." This is
because stores converted over some existing medical supply, grown on
behalf of member patients, since growing recreational pot wasn't legal
until this year.

Keef crumbs

In response to all of the above, the city officials that run Denver
International Airport prohibited possession of marijuana. Violators
may be fined up to $999. KRDO reported that Colorado Springs Airport
still allows the plant.

A great Sunday Denver Post story (tiny.cc/dpcash) pointed out the
hypocrisy in banks like JP Morgan Chase happily holding the state's
tax revenues derived from marijuana sales, while remaining reticent to
serve the industry itself. On a side note: Monday, Denver City Council
issued a proclamation "urging swift federal action to provide guidance
for banking."
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MAP posted-by: Matt