<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of today's (January 2, 2014) Denver Post at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><i>Scenes from Day 1 of Colorado's recreational marijuana sales</i></b></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Media mob at the Medicine Man</strong></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </strong></div><div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At the Medicine Man retail pot shop in Denver's Montbello neighborhood, the line stretched around the building, past a food truck selling breakfast burritos and into the employee parking lot.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Reporters from French television, CNN, the High Times and local news stations crammed into the lobby. The store was ready at 8 a.m. with six cash registers and seven private armed security guards — not because anyone anticipated trouble, but just to be safe.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Good morning," said owner Andy Williams, wearing a blue suit and an earpiece wired to other staff members. "Happy Independence Day."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One thing was higher before the doors even opened: prices.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Medicine Man surveyed competitors and raised prices for an eighth of marijuana from $25 for medical patients to $45 for recreational buyers, in part to ward off a shortage. After taxes, an eighth of pot ran $64.91.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The store reported about half the IDs were from from out-of-state.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kevin Schotz, 27, of Omaha, Neb., said he was vacationing in Arizona and took a detour to Colorado to be a part of history.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I can't even express how much I truly find joy in that people are truly being progressive about this and thinking of it with an open mind," he said. "This is a special time."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Michael Knoepfel, 44, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, had extremely limited options. He was about to get on a plane for Los Angeles, and it's against the law to take pot across state lines "unless it's in your stomach already," as a clerk pointed out.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Knoepfel quickly dismissed a pot brownie as far too potent. He ended up buying a 70 mg "Cheeba Chew" for $14 and some change.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Am I going to make my connecting fight?" he asked. "I'm a lightweight."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most stores run a tight ship</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tight organization reigned at some recreational marijuana stores. At others, not so much.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In-store traffic was smooth and outside lines moved along reasonably well at the Denver Kush Club in Denver's Five Points neighborhood.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Doors opened precisely at 8 a.m. All 12 Kush Club employees were prepped and staffing their posts. Customer questions were cordially answered, but the prevailing attitude among clerks was, "Tell us what you want, pay for it, and let's move on to the next customer."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At The Health Center, 17th Avenue and Downing Street, pre-opening activities were chaotic. Staffers frantically stocked shelves in an effort to open by 10 a.m. They didn't quite make it. About 30 customers waited outside in light snowfall until doors opened at 10:10 a.m. They were then let in three at a time by an armed security guard.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tiffany Goldman, director of operations, said staffers had worked through the night till around 2 a.m. to prepare. She attributed the last-minute pandemonium to delays in permitting and glitches with the store's product-tracking system.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Line just keeps growing</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Linda Andrews, owner of LoDo Wellness at 16th and Wazee streets, arrived about 6 a.m. to just one person in line. By 7:30 a.m., there were about 15 people. And by 11 a.m. a line of more than 600 had formed around the block for a three-hour wait.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I expected there to be a morning rush, and I thought we'd quiet down," Andrews said. "I had no idea."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The first customers could buy as much as they wanted, but the business started imposing limits within the first two hours, concerned about short supply. By noon, customers could buy an eighth.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"With an eighth (of an ounce) limit, I'm still worried," said Andrews, whose daughter Haley manages the shop and whose husband, Don, owns the building. Prices held steady on Wednesday, but that could change if the demand persists.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the street, Don Andrews handed out red fliers and kept the calm crowd awake. By midday he had counted people from 35 states and at least three or four countries.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It's a thing of beauty!" he shouted, gazing at the line. "The Berlin Wall is down, we have a black president and marijuana is legal!"</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A new chapter in Telluride's history</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lines a couple dozen deep stretched outside the doors of downtown Telluride's Alpine Wellness and the Telluride Green Room all morning Wednesday.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">San Miguel County Commissioner Art Goodtimes was first in line at Alpine Wellness. A marijuana enforcement division officer wandered between Telluride's two stores, doing little more than watching.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Michael Grady woke up New Year's Eve and read his full-page ad in the Telluride Watch.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Prohibition Ends At Last," it read.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It kind of brought a little tear to my eye," said the owner of Alpine Wellness and Alpine Edibles, which ships "Ganjala" taffy candies to 40 medical dispensaries around Colorado, marking one of the first exports for Telluride since the mining bust in the late 1800s.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We are at the forefront. We are pushing to do it and do it right and set a good standard," said Grady, who expected hundreds of visitors to his retail marijuana store, which was overflowing with an arsenal of cannabis-infused Ganjala candies, Rice Krispies bars, balsamic vinegars, "Peppermint Fatty" chocolates and cookies as well as several strains of indica and sativa weed.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For framing, not smoking</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Don Andrews purchased LoDo Wellness's first joint at 8 a.m., to frame on his wall, he said, but Curtis Durham, 24, of Chandler, Texas, was not far behind. He was looking forward to "the experience of buying a legal bag" after several arrests and years of relying on drug dealers. He had been saving his money since August.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I've been to jail two or three times just for simple marijuana possession of less than a gram. I went to jail once for having a pipe," Durham said. "It's covert and it's secret and that's not the way I want to live my life. I'm going to go to as many stores as I can."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He entered the store at 8 a.m., and when he left some time later, he said the experience was everything he had hoped for. "It was as easy as buying a cup of coffee, I guess."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All orders are to go</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Clutching brown paper bags, customers emerged from LoDo Wellness to applause, cheers and high-fives.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Justin Achenbach and Elizabeth Mendoza, both 39 and from Casper, Wyo., rushed outside, where Achenbach immediately unwrapped an edible. Others rushed to their cars or homes to light up, off the street and out of the watchful eye of a lone Denver police officer, who sat in his idling cruiser, which peeked out of an alleyway.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It was a much better experience than buying weed off of somebody you don't know," Achenbach said, chewing the edible. "It was a much safer feeling."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mendoza described it as "a dream come true."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We bought every kind of weed they had down there," Achenbach said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Coffee, cookies as a bonus</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Evergreen Apothecary in Denver offered customers coffee, cookies and a warm to place wait next door until they could buy pot. They also handed out 250 certificates and green shirts to early shoppers to mark the day.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It far exceeded my expectations," said Tim Cullen, the shop's co-owner. "We were ready for this crowd, but I had no idea if the crowd would be here or not."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marijuana memories</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Charles Bechtel, 57, who was No. 31 in line at LoDo Wellness, recalled the first time he smoked pot as a teenager in the '60s.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We were at a soccer game in high school and someone had a joint and we all got in a van. ... Back then you could buy an ounce for $20, but it was Mexican and it was full of seeds and stems," he said. "I've spent a lot of money on weed over the years."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A full once of the lowest-grade "silver strains' at LoDo Wellness on Wednesday cost $270, but Bechtel said he thought the prices were reasonable and comparable to those of his regular dealer. It was too soon to say whether he would forsake the dealer for the retail shop, but Bechtel said "I kind of like this. It's an experience."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I smoked pot for the first time when I was 16 years old," said John Stiltz, 62, of Denver. "I looked forward to the day when a harmless, recreational drug would become legal. I wanted to be part of the history."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Sense of liberation"</strong></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dave Adams, 42, and his friend Shaun Farrugia, 39, traveled from New York to buy marijuana that they probably won't be able to finish by the time they have to return in two days. But the experience was worth the trip, they said.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I was like, hey, this is going to be an epic moment in the history of the United States," Adams said. "I said, we really need to go out there and be a part of it, to say we were there when."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the street, Farrugia revealed his purchases, which included packages of brownies.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It was a lot more relaxed than I thought it was going to be," he said, looking back at the quiet, orderly line.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"This is not a ruckus-making crowd," Adams added. "It's less of a party and more of a pride thing. There's a sense of liberation."</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Cynthia Johnston, 69, of Los Angeles holds her order form on the first day of legal recreational marijuana sales at the 3D Cannabis Center in Denver.<br></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><img src="cid:421D2087-A811-4DCA-9C66-CC575885A240" alt="20140101__CD01legal_JA17660a~p1.jpg" id="421D2087-A811-4DCA-9C66-CC575885A240" width="654" height="435"></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Video</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px 0px 11.326px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaR-CR9irwk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaR-CR9irwk</a></span></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">----------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>