420: A pot Smokers National Holiday
Today is a big day for marijuana in the United States. April 20, in case you hadn't heard, is pot smokers' national holiday.
The number 420 has been connected to pot smoking since the 1970s for reasons that have always been a bit, well, hazy. But that's never stopped marijuana aficionados from adopting the date as their own, and this year they have good reason to think they're on the winning side of America's drug war. So far, Colorado has taken significant strides toward showing that it can create a taxable industry that threatens neither public health nor public safety. Even US Attorney General Eric Holder told the Huffington Post this month that he was cautiously optimistic. Washington State is next. Voters there, too, legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2012, and the state has issued its first pot-selling business license, though no shops are open yet. If these two states can succeed, the trend could only spread.
The potential expansion of legal marijuana has already largely played out with medical marijuana. Twenty-one states currently allow marijuana for medical use. Twelve more will consider it this fall, meaning more than half of states will likely have some form of legal marijuana by the end of the year.
Advocates of legal marijuana in other states, including California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, appear to be targeting 2016. The rollout of legal marijuana in Colorado has not been without problems. In March, a middle school student brought edible marijuana candies to school and passed them out to students. And Nebraska law enforcement officials complain that marijuana cases are skyrocketing. The Star-Herald of Scottsbluff, Neb., reports that Deuel County, which is where eastbound Interstate 76 traffic from Colorado enters Nebraska and merges onto I-80, has about 30 felony marijuana cases attributed to Colorado pot on its court ledger so far this year. There were about 35 cases total last year.
Law enforcement in Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, however, has not noticed similar spikes, according to the report. Attorney General Holder suggested that how Colorado and Washington State handle their legal markets will be crucial to how far legal marijuana spreads. I think a lot of states are going to be looking to see what happens in Washington, what happens in Colorado before those decisions are made in substantial parts of the country, he told the Huffington Post.
Until then, Denver's 420 Rally looks set to keep growing, at least.
Today is a big day for marijuana in the United States. April 20, in case you hadn't heard, is pot smokers' national holiday.
The number 420 has been connected to pot smoking since the 1970s for reasons that have always been a bit, well, hazy. But that's never stopped marijuana aficionados from adopting the date as their own, and this year they have good reason to think they're on the winning side of America's drug war. So far, Colorado has taken significant strides toward showing that it can create a taxable industry that threatens neither public health nor public safety. Even US Attorney General Eric Holder told the Huffington Post this month that he was cautiously optimistic. Washington State is next. Voters there, too, legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2012, and the state has issued its first pot-selling business license, though no shops are open yet. If these two states can succeed, the trend could only spread.
The potential expansion of legal marijuana has already largely played out with medical marijuana. Twenty-one states currently allow marijuana for medical use. Twelve more will consider it this fall, meaning more than half of states will likely have some form of legal marijuana by the end of the year.
Advocates of legal marijuana in other states, including California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, appear to be targeting 2016. The rollout of legal marijuana in Colorado has not been without problems. In March, a middle school student brought edible marijuana candies to school and passed them out to students. And Nebraska law enforcement officials complain that marijuana cases are skyrocketing. The Star-Herald of Scottsbluff, Neb., reports that Deuel County, which is where eastbound Interstate 76 traffic from Colorado enters Nebraska and merges onto I-80, has about 30 felony marijuana cases attributed to Colorado pot on its court ledger so far this year. There were about 35 cases total last year.
Law enforcement in Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, however, has not noticed similar spikes, according to the report. Attorney General Holder suggested that how Colorado and Washington State handle their legal markets will be crucial to how far legal marijuana spreads. I think a lot of states are going to be looking to see what happens in Washington, what happens in Colorado before those decisions are made in substantial parts of the country, he told the Huffington Post.
Until then, Denver's 420 Rally looks set to keep growing, at least.