In light of the Denver’s unexpected crackdown on what was to be one of the largest cannabis gatherings in the city, organizers of Wednesday’s cancelled event, along with vaporizer company O.pen VAPE, funneled their resources into the launch of My 420 Tours.
Basically, it consisted of loading reporters and smokers onto a party bus, handing out free, loaded vaporizers and riding around town to see a dispensary and a growhouse — replete with tour guides offering education on marijuana history, laws and, naturally, all you could ever want to know about O.pen VAPE. Josiah Hesse at the Denver Westword has the rest of his strange, wild ride.

Colorado’s legal pot sales may be the hot topic of pot news these days, but lawmakers in two neighboring states say they’ve got plants to legalize sales to adults 21 and up soon themselves.
An Arizona state representative and a New Mexico state Senator both say they are working on plans similar to the Colorado model that would legalize limited cannabis sales and possession for adults 21 and up.

Despite the snow, the holiday and the long lines, 3D Cannabis Center was abuzz with excitement yesterday morning with the start of recreational marijuana sales. Attempting to navigate both the media’s hungry demand for more information on this historic event and the public’s hungry demand for their first purchase of state government-approved marijuana, 3D hosted a press conference at 7:30 a.m. with those behind the A-64 campaign, followed by a strobe-light frenzy of camera flashes for what was presented as “the first sale in Colorado.”
Josiah Hesse from the Denver Westword has the local angle.

Denver’s Westword newspaper was on the ground in Colorado yesterday for “Green Wednesday”, scouting out several recreational cannabis shops and purchasing some legal green to enjoy recreationally. Below, check out one account of buying herb at The Clinic early on in the day.
As of 4:45 New Years Eve, The Clinic wasn’t going to open for recreational sales today. But some last-minute scrambling, pleading and begging got them through the process enough to legally open their doors this morning at 8 a.m. The crowd was minimal at that point, with a lone would-be customer who drove all night from Montana outnumbered by a few reporters sensible enough to avoid the media circus at other dispensaries (we got reports that cameramen were openly cursing each other well before 8 a.m. at Denver’s 3-D).

Colorado has become ground-zero for pot coverage in recent weeks, culminating January 1 when recreational cannabis sales begin for adults 21 and up around the state. In case you didn’t know already, our sister blog over at the Denver Westword is the source for coverage. As Westword editor Patricia Calhoun writes:

The calls and e-mails keep coming, sometimes several an hour. And they all want to know the same thing: On January 1, where will they be able to buy pot? Good question. The state just released its first list of 136 completed applications for recreational marijuana stores on Monday, but all of those applicants still need to jump through the hoops in their various municipalities before they can sell marijuana. By mid-December, Denver — which has over 200 medical marijuana dispensaries, the only businesses that can apply to sell recreational marijuana — had received more than 100 applications to open retail stores.

Read the rest over at The Latest Word.