DENVER, Co, USA
- Marijuana users celebrated Wednesday as Colorado became the first US state to
allow retail cannabis sales, putting it in the vanguard of efforts across the
country to legalize the drug.
The
western state famous for its ski resorts and breathtaking mountain vistas has
issued 348 retail licenses - including for small pot shops - that can sell up
to 28 grams of pot to people aged 21 or older.
Washington
state on the Pacific Coast will follow Colorado several months from now, when
it also allows stores to begin selling cannabis.
Iraq
war veteran Sean Azzariti was the first person to legally purchase cannabis for
recreational use in the United States.
Azzariti,
who has campaigned to legalize weed, said marijuana helps alleviate his
post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
As
America's attitudes on marijuana use evolve, Colorado and Washington legalized
recreational consumption of the drug in November 2012 referendums, but the new
rules coming into force allow cannabis shops.
State
officials here anticipate that marijuana sales will generate some $67 million
in annual tax revenue.
Opponents
of legalized cannabis warn that it can lead to higher rates of marijuana use
and addiction, even among young people who technically are not sanctioned to
use the drug.
They
also say that marijuana users face a raft of health and psychiatric problems,
noting that pot is often a gateway drug that can lead to abuse of more serious
substances.
Supporters
hailed its legalization - and legal sale - in Colorado as historic, and a
possible sign of things to come elsewhere.
"The
state is demonstrating to the rest of the nation and the entire world that
regulating marijuana works," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the
Marijuana Policy Project, one of the leading backers of the ballot initiative
to legalize marijuana.
Colorado's
branch of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws told AFP
that everyone will benefit.
"It
will mean jobs, tax revenue for the state and local jurisdictions, increased
tourism and a developing progressive new industry in Colorado," NORML
attorney Rachel Gillette said.
"It
will mean jobs, tax revenue for the state and local jurisdictions, increased
tourism and a developing progressive new industry in Colorado," NORML
attorney Rachel Gillette said.
Michael
Elliott, head of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, noted that Colorado has
licensed medical marijuana 
businesses since 2010, but said the influx of
tourists for recreational use of pot could lead to shortages.
businesses since 2010, but said the influx of
tourists for recreational use of pot could lead to shortages.
Tax
collectors are eyeing the revenue the newly legalized trade will generate,
while cannabis growers and others are also rubbing their hands in anticipation.
Enterprising
companies are even offering marijuana tours to cash in on tourists expected to
be attracted to a Netherlands-style pot culture - including in Colorado's
famous ski resorts.
Medical
marijuana is already legal and regulated in 19 US states, and has been allowed
in some cases for the past 20 years. And in most of them, private consumption
of cannabis is not classified as a crime.
Colorado
and Washington are creating a recreational market in which local authorities
will oversee growing, distribution and marketing - all of it legal - for people
to get high just for the fun of it.
The
market is huge: from $1.4 billion in medical marijuana in 2013, it will grow by
64 per cent to $2.34 billion in 2014 with recreational pot added in Colorado
and Washington, according to ArcView Market Research, which tracks and
publishes data on the cannabis industry.
Source: Agencies
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