I wasn’t truly excited when legal cannabis laws were passed in the state of Colorado.
I honestly tried to fight against the drug being legalized, but more than half of the population voted to approve legalizing recreational marijuana in 2012.
I was uneasy that recreational marijuana would turn Denver into a crime-filled city, but it has actually had the opposite effect. Not only are the crime rates much lower, but the amount of tourism has doubled in the past few years. Since recreational marijuana was legalized, our sales have been totally through the roof. I never had a huge amount of business and foot traffic, so I was forced to spend a great deal of money on advertising. Of course, all of that changed when a legal recreational dispensary opened up on the corner roughly a block away from our clothing and jewelry boutique. When the dispensary opened, I suddenly got free foot traffic to our shop. People were parked up and down the street to visit cannabis dispensaries and our sales started to increase a great deal. I don’t even need to advertise the shop, because I get 50 or 60 visitors each afternoon! For a long while, I was uneasy that legalizing marijuana in Denver, Colorado would lead to a higher crime rate and a trashy city, although I was totally wrong about that. Since the laws have changed, our neighborhood has seen a huge amount of tourism. There is also a lot more money from taxes that service the roads, parks, traffic signs, and universities. There haven’t been any downfalls since the state decided to legalize the plant for everybody.