Colorado Mulls Lessons From 1st Month Of Pot Sales
DENVER (AP) - A month into Colorado's experiment with recreational marijuana sales, voters are reporting mixed feelings about the law and state regulators are gathering to discuss how the legal pot business is going.
The state's top marijuana regulator will join state lawmakers, the governor's lawyer and some law professors to discuss the lessons Colorado has learned in the last few weeks since anyone over 21 has been allowed to shop at marijuana dispensaries.
It's too soon to know how much tax revenue marijuana sales have produced, and it's also difficult to say whether legal pot has increased the numbers of drivers under the influence.
Anecdotal reports from dispensaries indicate that sales have been strong, though the long lines and marijuana shortages seen the first few days have died down.
The pot discussion will come hours after a new poll showed Colorado's mixed feelings about the legal drug.
The Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday says that voters still support the state law that legalized recreational marijuana, but most believe it is hurting the image of the state.
The poll indicates that 51 percent of voters overall believe the measure is bad for the state's reputation, while 38 percent see it as a net positive.
Like other marijuana polls, the Colorado survey revealed a sharp age divide. Among voters 18 to 29, 57 percent say legal marijuana is good for the state's image. Among voters older than 65, 67 percent say it's bad.
Overall, 58 percent of people surveyed still support the law passed in 2012, the poll said.
The poll of 1,139 registered voters was taken from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
On Jan. 1, Colorado became the first state in the nation to allow legal retail sales of recreational marijuana. Washington state, where voters also legalized the drug in 2012, is expected to launch its marketplace in the coming months.
- By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer
Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to the report.
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