States looking to legalize marijuana look to Pueblo for help

Within the last 24 hours, the state of Massachusetts became a lot more like Colorado.

Crowds lined up around the block to get products at the first legal pot shops and dispensaries in the state. The shops also happen to be the first legal marijuana dispensaries selling recreation marijuana on the east coast of the U.S.

Pueblo County and the city of Pueblo were some of the first here in the state of Colorado to allow the sale of recreational cannabis. That’s why many groups in states like in Massachusetts and across the country will reach out to people in the Pueblo County to see how it is done.

Not only do they call up dispensary owners, but also law enforcement and local lawmakers like Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace.

As dispensaries open for the first time, Pace is reminded of Jan. 4, 2014, when Pueblo dispensaries first opened their doors.

“Those lines are so reminiscent of what we saw right here in Pueblo,” said Pace.

The path to recreational marijuana in Massachusetts has been a long one — voters approved the usage back in 2016. Last year, Pace hosted Boston city council members for a visit to learn from the steel city’s own experiences. That includes issues the city had to address, like buffer zones.

“Instead of creating the district or area where stores might go and customers could go. It created this perception that there were a lot more stores then there actually were so we actually recently got rid of our buffer zones,” said Pace.

Law enforcement agencies are also visiting Pueblo.

“Kalamazoo, Michigan, came a few months ago because they legalized it in Michigan,” said Sgt. Frank Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department.

Pueblo police say they have a stronger understanding of how to police in a city with legal pot sales now then they did four years ago. They believe it’s important for other agencies to reach out and learn because legalization isn’t so simple.

“There was a time when us the law enforcement officers that were enforcing the law didn’t know what was legal and what was illegal,” said Ortega.

Unlike in Massachusetts, lines aren’t bending around the corner outside of the dispensaries here in Pueblo County. One local dispensary owner says the business isn’t as lucrative as it may appear.

“This is a very difficult business; don’t think what you are seeing is real,” said Jim Parco, owner of Mesa Organics. “I think everyone in the industry needs to understand we are not in the cannabis business, we are in the compliance business and if we do our jobs, we get to sell cannabis.”

Parco says he warns people looking to get into the business of the heavy taxation, especially at the federal level.

Parco has been contacted by people all throughout the country looking to get into this business.
He says they all have the same question.

“How do we actually manufacture or cultivate or sell on a commercial level?” said Parco. “And the way to do that is come to where it’s been going on for five years, and we’ve been doing that now.”