Marijuana is poised to make a big splash in Colorado business after the passage of Amendment 64, allowing its legal sale and consumption.

A series of events in 2013 will determine just how big the industry may become.

Before retail stores open, state officials will apply licensing standards and excise-tax rates. Local governments also will decide whether they will impose sales taxes or prohibit retail sales in their jurisdictions.

The industry's financial impact could be significant, based on early projections.

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Legalization Strategy In Colorado Paves The Way For Pot In Other States

Just days after guiding a Colorado marijuana-legalization initiative to an unprecedented victory, longtime Denver marijuana activist Mason Tvert scored another win: a new job.

Tvert is now the communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, the national lobbying group that is the parent organization for Tvert's SAFER Colorado and was the main funder for Colorado's Amendment 64.

"I'm simply in a new role there, where I will be able to work on these issues around the nation," Tvert said.

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Three Colorado counties are already progressing toward banning recreational marijuana businesses, and Larimer County commissioners will meet Jan. 14 to begin shaping the local course for managing them.

Colorado voters last month approved Amendment 64 legalizing recreational marijuana and the possession and distribution of up to 1 ounce or six plants for people 21 and older. But many facets of marijuana's transition from taboo to commercial remain to be reconciled by state lawmakers and regulators, ranging from its taxation to its growth and distribution.

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County Becomes First in State to Bar Such Operations After Passage of Amendment 64

Just because marijuana is now legal in Colorado doesn't mean you'll be able to buy it everywhere.

Communities are taking action against commerical marijuana operations a year before it will likely be available to adults.

Douglas County is the first county in the state to place an all-out ban on commercial pot operations. That ban takes effect Thursday. Weld County is also on pace to have a ban against them next month. Other communities, such as Englewood, have issued moratoriums on the opening of recreational-marijuana businesses.

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Last month Colorado voters resoundingly passed Amendment 64 into the state constitution, legalizing both recreational marijuana and industrial hemp. So far, realizing the will of the voters is on track, but implementation risks threaten to undermine the intentions behind Amendment 64. Policy makers are contending with thriving black markets and gray markets (goods or services that while legal, are still traded outside of any tax or regulatory regime), so it is in their best interests to get this right-even if they didn't support the initiative in the first place.

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When Colorado voters legalized marijuana, they set the stage for another great states rights battle with Uncle Sam. President Barack Obama weighed in last week, saying on Friday he is willing to consider relaxing federal enforcement of marijuana laws for those who possess small amounts.

"It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that's legal," Obama told ABC News.

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GOLDEN, Colo. - It has been a little over a month since Coloradans approved a groundbreaking law legalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

Now that the celebratory haze has settled, state officials and marijuana advocates on Monday began sifting through the thorny regulatory questions that go beyond merely lighting up.

Among them: Who can sell marijuana? How should consumer safety be accounted for? How might employers and employees be affected by the new law?

At a packed meeting at a state building in this suburb west of Denver, a task force convened by Gov. John W. Hickenlooper began wrestling with some of these questions in an effort to forge a framework for how the law should work.

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Parker has decided to exercise its local control regarding Amendment 64 and outlaw retail marijuana shops while allowing regulated cultivation.

The town outlawed medical-marijuana dispensaries in 2011. The majority of Douglas County voters voted down Amendment 64, which makes it legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana by anyone 21 or older, and allows cultivation and retail sale of the drug. Douglas County also recently outlawed retail stores in unincorporated parts of the county.

"Our citizens don't want the medical marijuana and other dispensaries in our town," Parker Mayor David Casiano said. "Parker is a family town; we have a lot of kids. You've seen on Broadway all the dispensaries-we don't need that in Parker."

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While the president says prosecuting pot users isn't a priority, what about growers and sellers?

Many marijuana legalization supporters may be breathing easier today after hearing President Barack Obama say prosecuting recreational users is not a "top priority."

But Obama's remarks-his first on the topic since voters in Colorado and Washington legalized pot for recreational use-fall short of the clarity needed on the issue from the federal government.

Still unanswered is how the Justice Department will treat those who grow or sell marijuana commercially - in compliance with state laws, but in violation of federal law.

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A man jurors acquitted of multiple marijuana felonies has sued the Larimer County Sheriff's Office after his 42 plants were destroyed, according to a lawsuit recently filed in 8th Judicial District Court.

Denver lawyer Rob Corry said his client expects to receive $5,000 per plant (totaling $210,000), based on what law enforcers have testified a marijuana plant is worth, in addition to attorney fees.

Kaleb Young, 34, had been growing the plants in a Wellington home in compliance with Colorado's medical marijuana laws and during a warrant search in September 2010 had shown deputies paperwork authorizing him to do so, according to the lawsuit.

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Most of the discussions I have read about the legal ramifications of the passage of Amendment 64 seem to revolve around the level of intoxication as it relates to marijuana usage in the education setting, drugged driving, amount in possession and other criminal issues.

However, I believe that a significant issue that is being overlooked is the matter of civil liability that could confront a business owner because of marijuana's characteristic of being detectable up to 72 hours after usage.

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On Monday afternoon, in a conference room in suburban Denver, two dozen members of a government task force will gather to begin hashing out the details of how to create a market for legal, recreational marijuana in Colorado. The group includes law enforcement officials, public health experts, marijuana advocates and others who have varying opinions but each shares a stake in the outcome.

Looming over their task is the fact that growing, possessing and selling pot remains illegal under federal law. Leaders in Colorado and in Washington - the other state where citizens voted in November to legalize marijuana for people over 21 - have sought guidance from federal officials, but so far they have been met mostly with silence.

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Obama Says the Government Won't Go After Individual Marijuana Users in States That Have Legalized the Drug.

President Barack Obama, in an interview aired Friday, said the federal government will not arrest individual marijuana users in states that have legalized the drug.

Obama's comments - excerpts from a longer interview with Barbara Walters that aired Friday on "Good Morning America" - square with what federal officials said this fall, as Colorado and Washington voters considered ultimately successful measures to legalize use and limited possession of marijuana.

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After Amendment 64 was passed, medical dispensaries quickly looked to reopen. Owners adjusting to new laws and regulations needed permits to reopen. I firmly believe this is smart and actually good for the community; having a regulated and controlled retailer for this new product will help keep it off the streets and away from minors. As an 18-year-old senior at Fossil Ridge High School, I've learned and reviewed all of the laws and rules regarding marijuana. All of these strict provisions are smart and perfect to keep this drug away from the kids of the community. These dispensaries will ultimately create a great profit for Fort Collins.

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I've read with interest the recent "tough love" opinions about City Attorney Tom Carr's position on temporarily banning sale of non-medical marijuana. To me these opinions convey an undue atmosphere of crisis.

In fact, (1) the supply of marijuana in Boulder is already huge, (2) police enforcement relating to marijuana possession has already been adjusted, (3) the federal government has not weighed in on this matter, and (4) no state guidelines are in place either.

Under these circumstances, I don't see how Boulder can proceed on its own without waiting for guidance at the federal and state level. Otherwise, businesses attempting to set up non-medical marijuana operations in Boulder would be caught in the middle of an ever-changing regulatory landscape. In the meantime, there's no shortage of marijuana in the People's Republic of Boulder.

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State's Experience With Medical Marijuana Could Be a Blueprint

On Monday afternoon, in a conference room off Colfax Avenue in suburban Denver, two dozen members of a government task force will gather to begin hashing out the details of how to create a market for legal, recreational marijuana in the state. The group includes law enforcement officials, public health experts, marijuana advocates and others who have varying opinions but each share a stake in the outcome.

Looming over their task is the fact that growing, possessing and selling pot remains illegal under federal law. Leaders in Colorado and in Washington - the other state where citizens voted in November to legalize marijuana for people older than 21 - have sought guidance from federal officials, but so far they have been met mostly with silence.

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I find it interesting the people of Colorado have voted to legalize the "recreational" use of marijuana. Personally, I just can't understand how inhaling smoke can be good for a person. The government and many private organizations have spent millions of dollars over the years fighting the big tobacco companies. Finally the truth about the bad effects of tobacco, what we always knew, comes out: it is proven to kill people.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I believe the human body works best by inhaling fresh air, not smoke (of any kind). It seems to me we are taking a huge step backward. I suppose the next thing would be to turn the production and marketing of marijuana cigarettes over to Phillip Morris or RJ Reynolds, companies that really know the smoking business. That way, people could be supplied with a regular and guaranteed supply of marijuana.

Again, I guess I'm just kinda old-fashioned, but my idea of recreation is hiking in the mountains or going for a bike ride, not sucking smoke into my lungs.

Martin Pfefer, Centennial

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Re: "University of Colorado president sees $1 billion risk in legalized pot," Dec. 9 news story.

University of Colorado president Bruce Benson's hyperbolic pronouncements about the legalization of marijuana affecting federal aid to CU merely serve to stir up uninformed and paranoid rhetoric, rather than contribute to a rational debate.

Mr. Benson should consider joining the rest of us in the 21st century. Marijuana use is a reality. Why, I would wager that even some of your best friends at Republican cocktail parties occasionally put down their glasses of top-shelf scotch and sneak out to the balcony or patio to fire one up. And they don't, by and large, become drug addicts or felons. They are good people just getting high a little differently than you might.

As president of a college annually ranked high among those where drunkenness, couch arson and debachurey are widely practiced, isn't it a touch hypocritical and naively nostalgic for Benson to pick on marijuana?

Jack Farrar, Denver

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Any compromise to legislation to limit drivers' THC levels must not take the teeth out of the law.

With the official ensconcing of marijuana legalization into the state constitution, Colorado has taken a historic step toward normalizing use of this drug.

Now it's time for smart pot regulation, which most definitely includes a driving-while-impaired bill that sets a limit on the amount of THC allowable in the bloodstream.

We have long supported a 5 nanogram threshold for THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. It's a sensible precaution in a state that has medical marijuana and recreational usage.

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Re: "Hickenlooper signs proclamation making marijuana legalization official," Dec. 11 news story.

Now that marijuana use is legal in Colorado, one of my chief concerns is the impact this has on children. Is it legal today for adults to smoke marijuana within the confines of a home when children are present? I strongly believe that exposing children to secondhand marijuana smoke is a form of child abuse that should be vigorously prosecuted under existing child welfare laws. Must we wait to protect children in their own homes until the governor's task force issues its rules next year?

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