Sales from the 37 stores which sold marijuana on 1/1/2014 topped $1 million
Prices have risen to more than $400 per ounce, before taxes, due to high demand
More than 50% of sales have gone to non-Coloradans
Sales exceed $5 million in the first week
Colorado's Recreational Marijuana Shops Now Open For Business
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DENVER - The first recreational marijuana industry in the U.S. opened Wednesday in Colorado, kicking off an experiment that will be watched closely around the world.
Activists hope to prove that legalization is a better alternative than the costly American-led war on drugs.
"Honestly, I thought I'd never see the day," said a giddy Errin Reaume, who shared hits of concentrated marijuana at a 1920s-themed "Prohibition Is Over" party in Denver.
Skeptics worry the industry will make the drug more widely available to teens, even though legal sales are limited to adults over 21.
Colorado voters in 2012 approved the legal pot industry. Washington state has its own version, which is scheduled to open in mid-2014.
Pot advocates have argued a legal market would generate revenue for states and save money by not having to lock up so many drug offenders.
Colorado set up an elaborate plant-tracking system to try to keep the drug away from the black market, and regulators set up packaging, labeling and testing requirements, along with potency limits for edible pot.
Pot is still illegal under federal law, but the U.S. Justice Department outlined an eight-point slate of priorities for pot regulation, requiring states to keep the drug away from minors, criminal cartels, federal property and other states in order to avoid a federal crackdown.
"We understand that Colorado is under a microscope," Jack Finlaw, lawyer to Gov. John Hickenlooper and overseer of a major task force to chart new pot laws, recently told reporters.
A group of addiction counsellors and physicians said they're seeing more marijuana addiction problems, especially in youths, and that wider pot availability will exacerbate the problem.
"This is just throwing gas on the fire," said Ben Cort of the Colorado Center for Dependency, Addiction & Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Hospital.
Marijuana activists were hoping Colorado's experiment wouldn't be that noticeable after an initial rush of shopping.
"Adults have been buying marijuana around this country for years," said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "The only difference is that in Colorado they will now buy it from legitimate businesses instead of the underground market."
Pic is the first person to legally buy non-medicinal weed. He's an Iraq retired war veteran suffering from PTSD.
Update 01/02: Pot sales exceed $1 million on first day
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DENVER - Pot shops did record sales compared to the "medical marijuana days" on Wednesday when recreational marijuana opened. Pot shop owners across Colorado believe they collectively made more than $1 million statewide.
LEARN MORE ABOUT LEGALIZED MARIJUANA IN COLORADO
Supporters, critics and other states are waiting to see what will happen in Colorado on day two and beyond. In Perth, Australia, headlines say "Move Over Amsterdam."
Long lines and blustery winter weather greeted Colorado marijuana shoppers testing the nation's first legal recreational pot shops Wednesday.
It was hard to tell from talking to the shoppers, however, that they had waited hours in snow and frigid wind.
"It's a huge deal for me," said Andre Barr, a 34-year-old deliveryman who drove from Niles, Mich., to be part of the legal weed experiment. "This wait is nothing."
The world was watching as Colorado unveiled the modern world's first fully legal marijuana industry - no doctor's note required (as in 18 states and Washington, D.C.) and no unregulated production of the drug (as in the Netherlands). Uruguay has fully legalized pot but hasn't yet set up its system.
Colorado had 24 shops open Wednesday, most of them in Denver, and aside from long lines and sporadic reports of shoppers cited for smoking pot in public, there were few problems.
"Everything's gone pretty smoothly," said Barbara Brohl, Colorado's top marijuana regulator as head of the Department of Revenue.
It may seem like everyone was excited for the legalization, but there were vociferous critics too. It's a good reminder that 35 percent of Colorado voted against Amendment 64.
Colorado residents must be 21 or older to buy marijuana in Colorado. But just like alcohol, there's a good chance people underage might find a way to get their hands on the drug.
State regulators were out on Wednesday, making sure no one under 21 was able to buy marijuana. The pot shop 9NEWS went to on Wednesday was very diligent about checking everyone's ID.
9NEWS spoke with one doctor from Denver Health who treats kids with substance abuse issues. He says addiction numbers have gone up since Colorado approved medical marijuana. While there are no long-term studies on the effects of pot on adults, there has been research done on kids.
The doctor 9NEWS spoke with says marijuana can do some real damage to young people who are still growing.
Marijuana skeptics, of course, watched in alarm. They warned that the celebratory vibe in Colorado masked dangerous consequences. Wider marijuana availability, they say, would lead to greater illegal use by youth, and possibly more traffic accidents and addiction problems.
"It's not just a benign recreational drug that we don't have to worry about," said Dr. Paula Riggs, head of the Division of Substance Dependence at the University of Colorado-Denver medical campus.
Colorado has hundreds of pending applications for recreational pot retailers, growers and processors. So it's too soon to say how prices would change more people enter the business, increasing supply and competition.
Update 01/05: Colorado’s Pot Shops Say They’ll Be Sold Out Any Day Now
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A few days into the experiment, the new world of legal recreational marijuana sales in Colorado appears to be a big success—so much so that pot shops are finding it impossible to keep up with demand.
According to the Denver Post, at least 37 stores in Colorado were licensed to sell recreational pot to anyone 21 or over as of New Year’s Day. The Associated Press and others reported long lines outside Denver pot shops, with some eager customers forced to wait three to five hours before getting a chance to go inside, step up to the counter, and make a purchase.
Prices have been steep—in some cases, stores were charging $50 or even $70 for one-eighth of an ounce of pot that cost medical marijuana users just $25 the day before—and taxes add on an extra 20% or so. Even so, sales have been brisk.
The two operational pot shops in Pueblo collectively sold $87,000 of marijuana on January 1, per the Pueblo Chieftain, and store owners say that if demand persists anywhere near the current high, they’ll be sold out in the very near future. Likewise, Toni Fox, owner of the 3D Cannabis Center in Denver, told the Colorado Springs Gazette that a sellout is imminent. “We are going to run out,” she said on Thursday, day 2 of legal recreational marijuana sales. “It’s insane. This weekend will be just as crazy. If there is a mad rush, we’ll be out by Monday.”
Another Associated Press story noted that some shops had to close early on Wednesday because they’d didn’t have enough marijuana on hand to oblige customers.
For more than a month, many have speculated that Colorado pot shops would not be able to meet demand due to the limited number of stores open in the state, as well as tough regulations regarding how marijuana is grown and distributed at the wholesale level. Of course, strong demand—especially from “smokebirds,” a.k.a. out-of-state tourists visiting Colorado for legal marijuana purchases—also plays a big role. By most accounts, since January 1 more than half of pot sales have gone to non-Coloradans.
Prices in legal pot shops have already risen to upwards of $400 an ounce. Once you factor in taxes, as well as the fact that it looks like shops may periodically be sold out for a while, and some are saying the situation is one that could push pot enthusiasts back to buying marijuana on the black market. “People will get real tired of paying the taxes real fast,” one street dealer in Pueblo named Tracy told the Chieftain. “When you can buy an ounce from me for $225 to $300, the state adds as much as $90 just for the tax.”
Update 01/08: Colorado Recreational Marijuana Sales Exceed $5 Million In First Week
Colorado marijuana dispensaries made huge sales in the first week of legal recreational marijuana.
Owners of the 37 new dispensaries around the state reported first week retail sales to The Huffington Post that, when added together, were roughly $5 million.
That's a lot of green for Colorado's legal weed.
Colorado, the first state to allow retail recreational marijuana sales to adults age 21 and older, has projected nearly $600 million in combined wholesale and retail marijuana sales annually. The state, which expects to collect nearly $70 million in tax revenue from pot sales this year, won't have its first official glimpse at sales figures until Feb. 20, when businesses are required to file January tax reports, according to Julie Postlethwait of the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Denver's 9News was first to report statewide retail sales on New Year's Day, the first day legal pot shops were allowed to operate, exceeded $1 million. Interest dropped in the days that followed, according to shop owners, but many reported customers still waiting in lines out the door.
"Every day that we've been in business since Jan. 1 has been better than my best day of business ever," Andy Williams, owner of Denver's Medicine Man dispensary, told The Huffington Post.
Owners of larger shops told HuffPost they sold from 50 pounds to 60 pounds of marijuana in the first week. Smaller shops sold 20 pounds to 30 pounds, proprietors said.
Under state law, Colorado residents may legally buy up to one ounce of marijuana in a transaction. Tourists can purchase up to one-fourth ounce.
But the initial rush to buy legal weed was so great that many shops imposed caps on the amount each customer could buy, or raised prices to curb demand and stave off a possible shortage. So far, none of the retailers reported supply problems.
Prices also were boosted by the state's 25 percent tax on retail purchases, including a 15 percent excise tax and a 10 percent sales tax. Voters approved the levy in November. Local taxes can add more to what customers pay.
Shop owners said their sales were biggest the first day. Each day since, sales have been roughly half the New Year's Day volume, the business owners said.
One-eighth of an ounce of marijuana was selling for an average of $65 around the first of the year, according to Marijuana.com.
Despite the surging sales, Joaquin Ortega, co-owner of Denver Kush Club dispensary, was quick to note to HuffPost that federal laws against marijuana sales and possession present obstacles to Colorado's legal retailers. The Justice Department has said it won't challenge legalization laws in Washington state and Colorado as long as the states prevent out-of-state distribution, sales to minors and drugged driving, among other conditions.
Still, the federal prohibition means banks won't accept marijuana businesses for traditional bank accounts, and retailers said they can't take advantage of traditional business tax writeoffs.
"People think we all became millionaires," Ortega said. "But as a business owner, I can't write anything off for the last three years."
Banks have said they fear they could be implicated as money launderers if they offer traditional banking services to the pot businesses.
Marijuana businesses often cannot accept credit cards, leaving them to conduct transactions in cash. They say that's a burden for taxes and payroll, and a safety risk.
Monday night, Denver City Council urged banking regulators to grant Colorado marijuana businesses access to the federal banking system, so they can use the same banking services as other businesses.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) is seeking reformed access to banking for marijuana businesses with his Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act (H.R. 2652), which would create protections for banks that offer services to state-sanctioned marijuana-related businesses.
"The banking legislation sponsored by Congressman Ed Perlmutter is a common sense approach to bring financial legitimacy to the legal marijuana industry," Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks told HuffPost. "It's ludicrous and unsustainable to force large neighborhood businesses to operate entirely with cash. Congress needs to act, and act now."
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Department of Justice is also drafting legal guidance on how banks can work with marijuana businesses in states like Colorado and Washington, which both legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over.
Dispensaries in Washington state are expected to open later in 2014.