Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jan 2014
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2014 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

COLORADO GOES LEGAL, HO HUM

Nothing to See Here Folks

In terms of actual news value, the first week of legal cannabis sales 
in Colorado has been a yawner.

On Day One, at 10 a.m. inside the Denver Kush Club, the staff was 
professional and the intent clear: Look around, ask a few questions, 
buy an eighth of an ounce, pick up a couple of edibles and move on. I 
didn't feel hurried, but there were only five strains available, all 
at the same price ($50), and we were out of there in 10 minutes.

But beyond the lines outside the door, there was nothing unusual. The 
only thing notable was the uneventfulness. About as exciting as 
standing in line to buy concert tickets at Cervantes a few doors 
down. One guy walked out while we were in line and asked if anybody 
had any papers, and a couple held up their paper bags in triumph as 
they left, but that was about the extent of it. Not even a lot of 
high-fives. If you had come from out of town to cover it, except for 
a bust of an illegal grow in Kiowa County on Jan. 3, there was little 
to report.

I missed the 7:30 a.m. press conference based around the first legal 
purchase by Iraq veteran Sean Azzariti, but I joined a media tour at 
noon organized by Todd Mitchem of O.Pen Vape, a Denver pen vaporizer 
business, and Matt Brown, who runs marijuana tourism company My 420 
Tours, that included a ride in a bus that looked like it could have 
been used in Boogie Nights, pass-around vaporizers and stops at an 
Edgewater dispensary and a Denver grow facility, an experience 
recounted by Josiah Hesse in Westword.

The day put a fine point on the still lingering hostility toward 
legalization from state officials. Neither Gov. John Hickenlooper, 
who opposed Amendment 64's passing, nor Mayor Michael Hancock, who 
loudly opposed legalization, attended any opening-day festivities. 
There was no ceremonial first pitch for this industry.

And it even goes a little deeper than that. Original plans for the 
afternoon included a Cannabition celebration promoted by several 
business, including O.Pen Vape and My 420 Tours, based around a 
five-hour, adult-only private party, with DJs, food trucks, prizes 
and shuttle buses to retail stores to ring in the new year.

On Dec. 27, after plans had been publicly announced, the city of 
Denver delivered a letter to the club hosting the event, threatening 
its license if the show went on. Brown and Mitchem organized this 
tour as a replacement, and like everything else on the first day of 
retail sales of marijuana in Colorado, it went smoothly, and we were 
back at the O. Pen Vape headquarters south of downtown only 15 
minutes later than the original schedule said we would. (Who says 
stoners have problems with time?) The governor's official statement 
about the historic moment was notable for how little it said. "We 
have taken up the challenge to create a regulatory structure 
consistent with the guidance we have received from the U.S. 
Department of Justice," his press release announced, with a 
suggestion of distaste and disgust for the entire procedure.

Hancock back-handedly praised dispensary owners and patrons in a 
press release, thanking them for behaving themselves.

"I am proud of Denver's responsible and balanced implementation of 
Amendment 64," Hancock announced. "I want to thank the businesses and 
consumers alike for acting responsibly and with great accountability today."

What was he expecting? Owners throwing out free pot to the masses to 
get them hooked? Mayhem as people stormed dispensaries after having 
to wait in line too long for their fix? A headline like the one in 
the Daily Currant that said, based on a story in the Rocky Mountain 
News (hint, hint) that hospitals were filling with casualties and 
that 37 people had died on the first day of sales? Still, it was 
encouraging, I guess, that he even bothered.

And actually, according to a Denver Post story, some officials were 
expecting altercations outside shops from long lines of people 
perhaps desperate for cannabis. Which is pretty funny if you think 
about it. I doubt anybody who purchased ceremonially on New Year's 
Day did so because they actually needed to buy some.

There was chatter in the national press about the first day's high 
prices - $50 per eighth ounce was about average. It's not that hard 
to figure out that no outlet knew exactly how much it would need or 
that all strains would be priced the same on Day One.

But the national press has already moved on to its next meme. And as 
more stores open and outlets get to know their inventory needs and 
begin to concentrate on obtaining regular, returning customers, you 
can expect prices to come back down and become more competitive with 
the black market. (If not, the black market that Amendment 64 was 
passed to eliminate will continue to thrive.)

This week repeats the story of legalization in a microcosm. Officials 
and prohibition groups oppose, balk, pontificate, snort and stammer. 
Health officials essentially tell parents to lie to their kids about 
cannabis. Everybody - except the cannabis users, who just want out of 
a black market - expect the worst, and, and ... nothing happens.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom