CaseyJones
12-31-2013, 08:50 AM
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/30/high-prices-for-getting-high-expected-as-colorado-opens-legal-pot-shops
On Jan. 1, the first legal recreational marijuana outlets will open in Colorado. And with the rise of the new legal marijuana industry comes the question of what newly legal recreational weed should cost.
As it turns out, new users might be best advised to wait a few months before buying their weed. Some experts and store-owners say that getting high in the mile high state will likely be expensive at first, with prices easing off as the supply of weed catches up to the demand from Americans hoping for their first chance to buy recreational marijuana legally.
"I do expect the price to go up at least for the first few months," says Rachel Gilette, an attorney at Colorado's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "That's only because the supply is going to be very limited and the demand has just jumped massively."
Medical marijuana is already legal in Colorado, and many of the new shops will be medical dispensaries that have also obtained retail licenses. In some of those stores, retailers will set aside marijuana for medical patients, separate from that for casual users.
"I did talk to a retailer yesterday who had just set his price points, and they were about double of what you have been able to get medical on the market for the last year," says Gilette. "So it is going to be more expensive at least for the foreseeable future."
On Jan. 1, the first legal recreational marijuana outlets will open in Colorado. And with the rise of the new legal marijuana industry comes the question of what newly legal recreational weed should cost.
As it turns out, new users might be best advised to wait a few months before buying their weed. Some experts and store-owners say that getting high in the mile high state will likely be expensive at first, with prices easing off as the supply of weed catches up to the demand from Americans hoping for their first chance to buy recreational marijuana legally.
"I do expect the price to go up at least for the first few months," says Rachel Gilette, an attorney at Colorado's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "That's only because the supply is going to be very limited and the demand has just jumped massively."
Medical marijuana is already legal in Colorado, and many of the new shops will be medical dispensaries that have also obtained retail licenses. In some of those stores, retailers will set aside marijuana for medical patients, separate from that for casual users.
"I did talk to a retailer yesterday who had just set his price points, and they were about double of what you have been able to get medical on the market for the last year," says Gilette. "So it is going to be more expensive at least for the foreseeable future."