COLORADO Provides Glimpse Into Shifting Cannabis Mindset Nationwide

So it is with Colorado’s legalization of marijuana, which has wholesalers and retailers hoping for a glimpse into the future. They realize that this singular event provides a plethora of insights into America’s mindset and what it means for their own businesses in the months and years ahead.

It was William Blake, the English poet and painter, who spoke of the ability “to see the world in a grain of sand.”

Indeed, the future will almost certainly see legalization spreading to other states, pot being decriminalized at the federal level, retailers like c-stores and others getting into the act, and certain segments of the populace screaming bloody murder.

Colorado is the only fully legal marijuana industry in the world. Th e law that took eff ect recently allows the sales of marijuana for recreational use to adults 21 and older. Coloradans cannot use pot in public, nor on ski slopes, nor while driving. In fact, just about the only place it can be legally consumed is inside a private residence -- with the owner’s permission. Smoking inside a public building is prohibited by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, as is imbibing in public outdoor spaces like parks and forests. Adults can purchase as much as an ounce of pot per person, with out-of-state consumers limited to a quarter-ounce each. At least 37 stores sold marijuana on the fi rst day, reported the Denver Post.

Th ough marijuana remains an illegal drug, federal legislators have put the word out that it will maintain, at least for now, a hands-off policy in states like Colorado. Th e Obama Justice Dept., however, said it expects states to enforce a variety of standards, including preventing sales to minors, the movement of pot from state to state, monies ending up in the hands of organized crime and so-called drugged driving.

Money to be made: According to published reports, retail weed carries with it a 25% state tax in addition to the standard sales tax of 2.9%. By some estimates it is projected to raise $67 million a year, $27.5 million of which should end up going to education. Colorado offi cials have gone on record as saying they look forward to an eventual $578 million in annual pot-related revenue.

Th e result on the stock market was both dramatic and immediate: on the day that stores in Colorado began selling pot, the stocks of fi rms in some facet of the medical or recreational marijuana industry went skyward. As Agence France-Press reported, investors were emboldened by the long lines in what at least one research project estimates could become a $10-billion-per-year industry by 2018. Major gainers included MediSwipe, Inc., which markets transaction processing systems to the medical industry (shares rose 69.4%), GreenGro Technologies (share price up 52.3%) and GW Pharmaceuticals (up 5.7%).

Th e Denver Post noted in an editorial that “If Colorado is able to successfully legalize marijuana without causing a social backlash, the tourism, tax, and other considerations are likely to compel several other states to quickly follow suit.”

Interestingly, some disagree. As Matthew Yglesias, writing at Slate. com, suggested: “… I sort of doubt that marijuana will ever be a lucrative industry. Take away the unique issues caused with illegality and you’re talking about a commodity agriculture business… Beyond that, everything becomes about tax and regulatory policy… the licensing fees might claw back the vast majority of the profits.”

Healthier Americans: Nearly two dozen 20 states and the District of Columbia permit the use of medical marijuana for patients hoping to control pain from cancer, nervous system diseases, glaucoma and migraine. Legalization helps medical marijuana move from the fringes of medical science into the mainstream.

A spate of recent studies has shown among other things that cannabis can, indeed, be a life-saving medicine. Th e FDA has already approved the fi rst clinical trials using marijuana for epilepsy. It may also kill leukemia; help with brain cancer; aid smokers in giving up cigarettes; relieve the symptoms of both Parkinson’s and Crone’s Diseases; help users lose weight and be less prone to develop diabetes. It is also said to be eff ective in treating nausea and improving the appetites of people suff ering with HIV or chronic illnesses.

Red tape: No matter how fast the pace of change, bureaucracy must always be factored in to any policy shift . Governments must hammer together the legal infrastructure to sustain policy changes, and that not only takes time but remains subject to the vagaries of politics.

Case in point: Most of Colorado’s 500 or so medical marijuana shops had, at press time, not yet applied to sell recreational pot, which they say they want to do. Nor can purchases yet be made – officially -- using credit cards. (Th ough Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. prohibit the use of their debit and credit cards for buying pot, some Colorado retailers are letting consumers pay with plastic anyway. The card giants, like the Justice Department, appear more than willing to turn a blind eye to the practice.) These and other steps will take still more time.

 e future of legalized pot in America looks bright, if complicated. Since when has change ever been easy?