Colorado first weed store opens! Rules are simple

The US State of Colorado has entered the New Year on a high note by becoming the first state to legally sell marijuana and open the retail spots for pot. Washington is set to follow suit and open its own recreational shops later in 2014.

At the start of New Year day, at 8 am local time, pot lovers from across the state lined up to be one of the first residents to legally participate in a $578 million market. Some people had been waiting since 1 am.

"I wanted to be one of the first to buy pot and no longer be prosecuted for it. This end of prohibition is long overdue," said Jesse Phillips, cannabis enthusiast from Colorado.

State residents can now legally indulge themselves with up to an ounce of marijuana from more than 30 shops that have opened their doors statewide. Residents from other states can buy up to one-quarter of an ounce.

However, weed enthusiasts can increase their daily limit by shop hopping and purchasing legally allocated amounts from different vendors. Legally under state law, buyers are only allowed to possess up to one ounce of the plant on them.

The state’s prognosis is to sell $578 million worth of marijuana products and generate some $67 million in tax, with $27.5 million designated for school construction.

"I feel good about it. The money's going to schools," Joseph Torres from Denver said while waiting in line.

Overall, about 130 stores received licenses to sell the drug last month, with 200 more getting approval from the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. Running the industry will come with a 25% state tax on top of the usual sales tax of 2.9%.

"Things have really been going well," Ashley Kilroy, Denver's executive director of marijuana policy, said at a news conference Wednesday after first sales. "We really haven't seen a negative impact."

"Voters have spoken. We have to implement the laws," Kilroy said.

Cultivation, possession, and personal use of marijuana have already been legal in Colorado under a state constitutional since 2012. But come 2014, cannabis sales will now contribute toward financing the state, where it now can be produced, sold and taxed.

"I'm going to frame the receipt when I go home, to remind myself of what might be possible: Legal everywhere," musician James Aaron Ramsey said in Colorado.

As soon as stores started selling, the Denver police department tweeted, "Do you know the law?"posting a link to websites on state and local legislation.