"Colorado prepares to start of retail sale of marijuana" by Kristen Wyatt | Associated Press, January 01, 2014
DENVER — Police were adding extra patrols around pot shops in eight Colorado towns that plan to allow recreational sales to anyone over age 21 starting Jan. 1. Officials at Denver International Airport installed new signs warning visitors that their weed can’t legally go home with them.
(Blog editor holds joint as he takes his hit -- and then sigh an exhale)
And at a handful of shops, owners were scrambling to plan celebrations, set up coffee stations, arrange food giveaways, and hire extra security to prepare for potential crowds and overnight campers ready to buy up to an ounce of legal marijuana.
While smoking pot has been legal in Colorado for the past year, so-called Green Wednesday represents another historic milestone for the decades-old legalization movement: the unveiling of the nation’s first legal pot industry.
I'm not opposed to it, although I have a bit of a hangover about it.
‘‘It could be crazy. Or it could be crickets out there. Who knows? No one’s ever done this before,’’ said Robin Hackett, manager of BotanaCare in Northglenn, a suburb of Denver, who planned to have a DJ to greet shoppers.
I thought it was stems in the brownies!
Preparation for the retail market started more than a year ago, soon after 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, who had long pushed legalization as an alternative to the lengthy and costly global drug war, had argued it would generate revenue for state coffers and save money spent on locking up drug offenders.
Well, now is not the time to get into (cough) that, but who benefits?
Still....
I'm going to have to check and see if the stills, buts, and whatever other wordy apologies are in the war-promoting or bank-defending articles.
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.
One wishes they had done the same with Wall Street banks and executive compensation (and they did by way of doing nothing because all those trade records have been gobbled up by telecoms and government. The government can not not know about ma$$ive Wall Street fraud and criminality. No wonder who they $erve anymore).
But there I go again, babbling on when lit.
So what were we talking about?
The US Justice Department outlined an eight-point slate of priorities for pot regulation, requiring states to keep the drug away from minors, criminal cartels, federal property, and other states in order to avoid a federal crackdown. Pot is still illegal under federal law.
But let's load the little ones mouth with as many pre$cription pharmaceuticals for phantom conditions as we can, and while we are at it, here is one for each of you, mom and dad. It's called creating a market, and the poisoned food, air, and water helps.
With the additional police patrols, the airport warnings, and various other measures, officials are hoping they have enough safeguards in place to avoid predictions of public health and safety harm from the opening of the pot shops.
What, the terrorists going to bomb the pot shops? Oh, right, the radical Islamic terrorists are pot heads. I guess that disqualifies me (blog editor frowns).
But they confessed anxiety about the opening of retail sales....
You would feel that way, too, if you were ‘‘under a microscope.’’
Of course, were are all under the NSA microscope these days.
Would parking lots be full of overnight campers and crowds lined up to buy pot? Would sellers run out of marijuana? Would shoppers abide by state law and refrain from using pot publicly, or would clouds of pot smoke drift through neighborhoods?
One can only hope they would reach the newsrooms of the propaganda pre$$ and start enlightening them.
Critics fear the changing global marijuana approach is setting up Colorado and other places for serious public health problems.
It's the exact opposite, but that would up$et certain indu$tries.
‘‘This movement in public policy basically conflicts with the essence of bringing greater mental health and public health,’’ said Patrick Kennedy, a former Rhode Island congressman and chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization.
Says a guy who was ADDICTED to PRE$CRIPTION PHARMACEUTICALS because of DEPRESSION!
Why did the Globe leave that out?
Marijuana supporters, meanwhile, were hoping that they’ll make the best use of their chance to show that legalization can work.
Maura Foss, compliance manager at Breckenridge Cannabis Club in the ski resort town, is increasing inventory from a normal 5 or 6 pounds to 50 pounds of marijuana for Green Wednesday.
Foss said she wasn’t sure how long the pot would last given a steady stream of tourists calling and coming in seeking to buy it.
‘‘We’ve been scrambling to get the basics ready, and we’re as ready as we can be,’’ Foss said.
I'll bet it is a better than the rollout of the Obummercare website.
--more--"
Wow, that Globe joint lasted a while.
So where is a good place to go to grow $ome $moke?
Meanwhile, if I get enough vitamin E it will help me avoid Alzheimer's, but the other vitamins are nothing but $hit. Stuff is good enough for tortured terrorists on hunger strikes, though!
