Employee Lara Herzog trims away leaves from pot plants, harvesting the plant’s buds to be packaged and sold at Medicine Man marijuana dispensary, which is to open as a recreational retail outlet at the start of 2014, in Denver. Colorado has madeg final preparations for marijuana sales to begin Jan. 1, 2014, a day some are calling “Green Wednesday.”DENVER – Police were adding extra patrols around pot shops in eight Colorado towns that plan to allow recreational sales to anyone over 21 today 1. Officials at Denver International Airport installed new signs warning visitors their weed can’t legally go home with them.
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 weed.
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.
“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.
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.