{"id":122200,"date":"2014-01-02T01:16:31","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T08:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pot-sales-begin-in-telluride-and-business-is-good\/"},"modified":"2014-01-02T01:16:31","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T08:16:31","slug":"pot-sales-begin-in-telluride-and-business-is-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pot-sales-begin-in-telluride-and-business-is-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Pot sales begin in Telluride, and \u2018business is good\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Telluride
Telluride Bud Co. owner Adam Raleigh discusses the different strains of marijuana available for purchase on Jan. 1, the day recreational marijuana prohibition ended in Colorado.<\/span>TOBIE BAKER\/The Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBusiness is good,\u201d he said Wednesday as his customers waited in line for more than an hour.<\/p>\n

An Oaksterdam University honors graduate, Raleigh opened the Telluride Bud Co. in 2010 as a licensed purveyor of medical marijuana. On Wednesday, he gained new recreational customers from across southwest Colorado, including Mary, a grandmother from Montrose. She specifically made the hour-and-a-half drive to Telluride on Wednesday to buy marijuana.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be in the company of like-minded people,\u201d she said, waiting in line with about two-dozen others.<\/p>\n

After a substantial wait, customers filed into a small room where Raleigh showcased a dozen strains of marijuana. Able to see and smell each strain, customers placed their orders, and Raleigh then used steel tongs to remove the buds from the requested container before weighing the product on a digital scale. The recreational marijuana was finally enclosed in green prescription bottles and delivered to the customer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe this day is finally here,\u201d said Greg of Durango, who also made the drive to Telluride to buy marijuana.<\/p>\n

The day, however, wasn\u2019t completely joyous. It started with a low for Raleigh and his customers. Shortly after opening the doors at 9:30 a.m., a Colorado Marijuana Enforcement official closed the Telluride Bud Co. and demanded that the opaque prescription bottles be covered with labels to prevent anyone from seeing inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were bad guys,\u201d said Gary, an employee. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want us open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Located directly across South Spruce Street from the Telluride Marshal\u2019s Department, waiting customers immediately pitched in to help store employees administer the stickers. About an hour-and-a-half later, the store reopened.<\/p>\n

\u201cImproper labeling,\u201d Raleigh lamented. \u201cThat was my biggest hiccup of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chunky Cherry Malawi, a Telluride Bud Co. sativa indica hybrid blend of marijuana, was the company\u2019s top-selling product on Wednesday. The marijuana ranged from $10 for a single cigarette to $300 per ounce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our house strain,\u201d explained Raleigh.<\/p>\n

A total of a dozen strains of marijuana was available. Displayed in glass jars with handwritten labels, the strains included Man Down, L.A. Confidential, N.Y. City Diesel, White Widow, BHS No. 3, Dupper Silver Haze, Blue Dream, Manga Rosa, Chem Dawg, Durban Poison and Train Wreck. Raleigh also sold Cheeba Chews, a marijuana-infused edible.<\/p>\n

Justin, a contractor from Phoenix, just happened to be visiting his sister in Telluride the day the marijuana shops opened. He said he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase marijuana legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic day,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime Telluride resident Suzanne Chevans agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really stoked,\u201d she said over lunch at Smuggler\u2019s Brewhouse.<\/p>\n

An overwhelming majority of Telluride voters approved Amendment 64, including Chevans, who said it makes sense to decriminalize marijuana. She said she hopes the legal industry will help shut down the drug\u2019s black market, improving public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to break up the cartels and end the violence,\u201d Chevans said.<\/p>\n

With an abundant array of recreational opportunities at her front and back doors, Chevans doubted that recreational marijuana would generate a significant increase in pot tourism for Telluride.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might get a little, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be a game-changer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Colorado residents now can legally purchase up to an ounce of marijuana for personal consumption. Out-of-state residents are limited to a quarter-ounce.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telluride Bud Co. owner Adam Raleigh discusses the different strains of marijuana available for purchase on Jan. 1, the day recreational marijuana prohibition ended in Colorado.TOBIE BAKER\/The Cortez Journal \u201cBusiness is good,\u201d he said Wednesday as his customers waited in line for more than an hour. An Oaksterdam University honors graduate, Raleigh opened the Telluride […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[338,120,13,135],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-122200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-business-enterprises","tag-colorado","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-marijuana"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122200"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=122200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}