Pubdate: Tue, 23 Aug 2016
Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2016 The Dominion Post
Contact:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550

YES, IT'S LEGAL (BUT THE LAW'S STILL A DRAG)

Colorado legalised marijuana sales two years ago. Ben Hoyle reports 
on the highs and lows of the decision.

The "bud tender" had shoulder-length black hair, a deep well of 
patience and a connoisseur's pride in his wares as he spread tray 
after tray of marijuana-based products on the glass counter top. 
There were fruit gums, chocolate caramels, granola packets, medicated 
sugar to drop in your coffee or tea in the morning, Rosemary Cheddar 
Crackers for a savoury taste, a bath soak and even sensual oil for 
the bedroom, Charles Watson explained.

Then he moved on to his dozen jars of green, frosted-looking 
marijuana lumps for smoking, all grown legally in Denver and all 
named and labelled with a percentage breakdown of their chemical 
composition to indicate their potency and character. Mr Watson, a 
salesman for the prominent Colorado marijuana chain Native Roots, 
explained that he had a higher tolerance than most users to his 
products' effects.

For a novice he suggested Harlequin, which would be similar to the 
cannabis you would have found in the sixties or early seventies.

Almost anywhere else in the world Native Roots would be considered an 
unusually well-stocked drug den and Watson could be facing time in 
jail. In Colorado, where sales of recreational marijuana to adults 
over 21 have been legal since January 2014, he is one of more than 
27,000 people licensed to work in a booming new industry with global 
ambitions. "We're trying to show the world you can sell and regulate 
it in a responsible manner," Watson said.

His clients are not only stereotypical stoners  they include everyone 
from the healthy guy who's just run a marathon to wheelchair users 
who are inhaling oxygen.

Colorado's governor, John Hickenlooper, opposed legalisation at the 
time of the vote in 2012 and subsequently said that he wished he 
could wave a magic wand and abolish it. In May, however, he changed 
his tune. "If I had that magic wand now, I don't know if I would wave 
it," he said. "It's beginning to look like it might work."

By the end of this year, if a series of state referendums fall in 
favour of legalisation, recreational marijuana could be approved in 
nine states, including California, whose economy was the sixth 
largest in the world last year.

Colorado raised $135 million from marijuana fees, licences and taxes 
last year, a fraction of the overall state budget of $27 billion but 
welcome revenue all the same.

Recreational and medical marijuana customers pay a 2.9 per cent 
regular Colorado sales tax charge and any local taxes. Recreational 
consumers are also charged an additional 10 per cent state marijuana 
sales tax and the price of their marijuana includes a 15 per cent 
excise paid by the retailer when purchasing his wares from the grower.

The revenue feeds into a state schools building programme. If it is 
legalised in California, voters will decide whether a portion of the 
taxes from recreational marijuana sales will go towards tackling the 
state's homelessness problem. There are still marijuana-related 
crimes in Colorado, for example where the supplier is unlicensed or 
the customer is under 21 but there are far fewer than previously.

The total number of marijuana-related prosecutions fell by more than 
8000 a year between 2012 and 2015, and was down 69 per cent among the 
10-17 age group. Violent crime fell by 6 per cent and property crime 
dropped by 3 per cent between 2009 and 2014, the first year of the 
experiment, debunking pessimistic forecasts made before legalisation.

The state's senior law enforcement official, Stan Hilkey, the 
executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, said 
he was surprised by the results. "During the debate there was a 'sky 
is gonna fall' mentality from a lot of us, including me," he said. "I 
haven't seen that."

He said, however, that after three decades as a police officer he 
found it difficult "to shed my cop glasses". Asked if legalisation 
had brought any benefits to the public or to law enforcement, he 
said: "None that I'm aware of."

In May the state's county sheriffs, prosecutors and police chiefs 
wrote to Colorado legislators to complain about the extra workload 
foisted on them by legalisation. Their letter said that there had 
been 81 bills on the subject introduced in the previous four years.

They wrote: "Industry forces are working constantly to chip away at 
regulations put in place to protect public health and safety."

Hilkey added that legalisation had failed to defeat the black market, 
which continues to thrive because its product is cheaper and not 
restricted by age. It has also created new problems, including the 
illegal export of licensed and unlicensed marijuana to neighbouring 
states and almost certainly brought greater profits to organised 
crime activity in Colorado.

The ban on marijuana sales at national level means that officially at 
least, banks will not open accounts for marijuana growers or vendors, 
so the industry remained a cash business, he said. Therefore this 
made it ripe for criminals. There were 2538 licensed marijuana 
businesses in Colorado last December, many of which hire security to 
protect against armed robberies.

Last month a former Marine Corps veteran working as a guard at the 
Green Heart dispensary in Aurora, near Denver, was shot dead in a 
botched robbery, the first killing at a licensed marijuana business, 
though not the first robbery. Two days later a small group of 
Republicans in Congress blocked a measure backed by both parties that 
would have effectively opened the banking system to marijuana businesses.

A spokesman for Blue Line Protection Group, one of the largest 
companies competing to provide security and compliance services to 
the new industry, said some local banks and credit agencies now felt 
comfortable offering services to the marijuana industry but the 
national chains were still waiting for approval from the federal government.

Andrew Freedman, the governor's director of marijuana co-ordination, 
said it was too early to answer many of the most pressing questions 
about legalisation, including what impact it had on alcohol, tobacco 
and opioid usage, although he had been pleasantly surprised by how 
few tragedies there had been through marijuana overdoses.

His greatest worry is that over time people's comfort with 
legalisation could make radically different patterns of marijuana use 
socially acceptable. That may be happening already though. Evan 
Borman, 33, an architect, said attitudes in the state were shifting, 
though he claimed that he smoked "no less and no more" than he did 
before legalisation.

He said: "You get dirty looks if you smoke a cigarette in the street 
but people barely even think twice if they smell weed."

The Times
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