Pot customers waiting in line to buy grass legally in Denver, CO
Photos by: Johnnie Adcox
We were all shaking and then huddled together for warmth. My three associates and myself were lined up forty feet from our little car while two state troopers ransacked it and our belongings.
The cop playing the role of the “good cop” eventually came to us and gave the coats belonging to my two friends who were standing in the snow without their jackets on.
The dichotomy of our current predicament and the mood of where we were earlier on January 1st 2014 made us laugh, even though there was nothing funny about what was happening.
Our adventure began the night before New Year’s Eve, when we made a rash decision to go to Denver to experience Colorado making history by allowing sales of recreational marijuana.
So on New Year’s Eve, 2013, we hopped in my friend’s car and drove from Lincoln, NE to Denver. We made hotel arraignments on the way there, and celebrated the New Year in Downtown Denver.
The New Year’s Eve enthusiasts were a wide variety of locals and travelers. Most were dressed up in costumes and dresses and drinking heavily. For a while I thought this freak fest was more about the new law in Colorado, but I was mistaken.
The sales didn’t happen until later in the morning.
Denver has always been know for it’s wild New Year’s Eve celebrations. There are always many concerts, people partying on the 16th Street Mall and usually fireworks blasted off the rooftops of various skyscrapers.
Fireworks blasting off the roof of the Sheraton in Denver on January 1st, 2014
We had a fun night. Bars, restaurants, fun people and excitement were everywhere. But as the night became longer, the tone of the Mile High City party crowd became dark. Insanely drunk people high on any or every drug on Earth were everywhere.
It was a lot of fun, but I wondered how the next day would go.
I woke up, left my hotel room and hit the streets. It was colder and wet snow was coming down. But everything was calm, like I was now in a different city.
The drunks and the maniacs were nowhere to be seen. It was “business as usual,” but maybe because of the holiday, there wasn’t really much business going on.
My friends and I now went for a walk to check out the now-legal selling of marijuana That was happening at 16 stores around the city. There was a store not too far, and we could see a very long line from blocks away. When we made it to the store, I was shocked at what I saw.
Everybody was patiently waiting in line and seemed happy and optimistic. There didn’t appear to be a way to generalize the group of people who were there. Young and older people, rich and poor were all there together.
They were about to do something that has never been possible until this fateful day.
But where was all the craziness? I expected partying in the streets. I thought people would be dancing half-naked while smoking from giant bongs.
This was just some mellow Denver morning. I did see the occasional person trying to be casual about smoking a little pot in public, but I’ve seen that every time I’ve been to Denver. The cops there haven’t been making a big deal about people with a joint for years.
Of course, the relaxed attitude of Coloradans is one thing, but the legalization of medical marijuana and now recreational use of the herb is the biggest change in modern American marijuana policy.
There is medical use allowed in many states, but Colorado and Washington are the first places in the world to truly legalize marijuana.
Colorado is the first state in history to tax marijuana and make specific laws regarding it’s distribution.
Amendment 64 was passed on November, 6 2012. It is now an article in the Colorado State Constitution.
The people of Colorado who are 21 or over have been able to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana since December of the same year. But one of the most historic parts of the law is that marijuana would be taxed and sold legally.
Some of the intentions of the law are to drive out black market sales and for the state to get it’s cut of the money. It sure looks like the state will get some money out of this new law.
Retail marijuana will have a 25% tax, along with Colorado’s sale’s tax of 2.9%
The general consensus of those I spoke to said the prices were comparable or even better than those from street dealers.
On New Year’s Day, Colorado citizens were able to buy an ounce of marijuana, while those from other states were only allowed a quarter of an ounce. That amount seemed to be plenty for those who came out of the shops. A lot of the shoppers also came out with edibles, which could be just about any food or candy infused with THC.
The cold and wet snow eventually helped us decide to start driving home. We had the time of our lives, but this was to be a short trip from the beginning.
Unfortunately, I think all the fun and relaxed feelings of walking down the streets with marijuana in our pockets got to our heads.
It was hard to get used to the ways of this place at first, but then it just seemed right.
We should have reminded ourselves of the simple fact that we were heading back to Nebraska. A great place to live, but still a place of marijuana prohibition and the regular police harassment of pot-smokers.
The 8-hour drive back was going to be rough, with four people crammed in a tiny sardine can (a fairly stylish car mind you). The snow grew a little worse, and the interstates became icy and foggy.
The roads on Interstate 80 eventually became clear and more drivable. And then a few hours from our homes in Lincoln, the cops decided to delay our arrival.
We pulled over on an exit and a cop shined his flashlight directly on me through the passenger window. He tapped on the window with his giant metal rod and I rolled the window down.
“Where’s the marijuana guys,” is the first thing Nebraska State Trooper Nathan Avery (badge number 148) said. He was a real “tough guy” sort of cop who was basically just a bully and a jerk.
I looked down and said nothing. The driver then asked why we were being pulled over, and Avery said speeding was his crime.
Of course the cruse control was set at the speed limit. The trooper wouldn’t even say how fast, but eventually cited him with a ten dollar ticket for going 5 miles over the limit.
This whole event lasted about an hour and a half. We were all taken out of the car, individually searched and made to line up on the icy road. After searching the car for a “reasonable” 45 minutes, the troopers did find two little wooden pipes in our friend’s purse and two tiny bags of marijuana (not even close to enough to roll a joint with) between the two passengers in the back seat.
They both received tickets for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, even though the male passenger didn’t have a pipe.
We all felt violated and angry and frustrated, but knew in the end we would be okay and settled down.
But after witnessing what they are doing in Colorado, we had mixed feelings.
Maybe some day the whole country will wake up and stop making a big deal about something like marijuana, and end the prohibition of people smoking an herb.
Johnnie Adcox 