Pot a Cash Crop in Colorado

Thousands of people have filed papers with the state of Colorado to get ahead of impending regulation of the state's burgeoning medi-pot industry – putting millions into state coffers.

August 1 marked the filing deadline for Colorado's medi-pot entrepreneurs to submit applications to get on the state-regulated pot-sales train. In all, the state received 2,000 applications for licenses to run state-regulated medi-pot businesses – including pot dispensaries and growing operations – netting the state $7.34 million in application fees alone. Currently, the state has roughly 1,100 pot dispensaries for qualified medi-pot patients and 700 of those operators have filed for a state license, outpacing what officials expected, reports the Marijuana Policy Project.

The race to the gate comes in response to a new law that seeks to rein in – and "professionalize," as the Denver Post put it – the growing industry, even though the precise rules for dispensary operations haven't yet been written, and won't go into effect until next July, the daily reports. At a cost of $7,500 to $18,000 each, it seems fair to assume that the applicants see a future in pot in Colorado. Indeed, according to a May Rasmussen poll of likely voters, 49% in Colorado said they would support a tax-and-regulate-like-alcohol approach to overall pot legalization.