The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers, catering to Colorado's newly legal recreational market for pot, are stocking their shelves ahead of a New Year's grand opening that supporters and detractors alike see as a turning point in America's drug culture.
Possession, cultivation and private personal consumption of marijuana by adults for the sake of just getting high has already been legal in Colorado for more than year under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters.
But starting January 1, cannabis will be legally sold and taxed at specially regulated retailers in a system modelled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales - but which exists for marijuana nowhere outside of Colorado.
For the novelty factor alone, operators of the first eight marijuana retailers slated to open on Wednesday morning in Denver and a handful of establishments in other locations are anticipating a surge in demand for store-bought weed.
Washington state voters legalized recreational marijuana at the same time Colorado did, in November 2012, but it has yet to be made commercially available there.
Pot designated strictly for medical use has been sold for some time in storefront shops in several of the nearly 20 states, including Colorado and Washington, that have deemed marijuana legal for health purposes.
But Colorado is the first to open retail pot stores, and craft a regulatory framework to license, tax and enforce its use for recreation.
Outside of the United States, Uruguay's parliament recently cleared the way for state-sanctioned marijuana sales, but the South American nation is at least months away from having a system in place.
The Netherlands has long had an informal decriminalization policy, with Amsterdam coffee shops allowed to sell marijuana products to customers. But back-end distribution of the drug to those businesses remains illegal.
Critics of liberalized marijuana laws likewise view Colorado's new order as a landmark, albeit one they see in a more negative light.
Critics say the social harms of legalizing pot - from anticipated declines in economic productivity to a potential rise in traffic and workplace accidents - will outweigh any benefits.
Legalization backers point to tax revenues to be gained and argue that anti-marijuana enforcement has accomplished little but to penalize otherwise law-abiding citizens, especially minorities.
They also argue that legalization will free up strained law enforcement resources and strike a blow against drug cartels, much as repealing alcohol prohibition in the 1930s crushed bootlegging by organized crime.
Under Colorado's law, however, state residents can only buy as much as an ounce of marijuana at a time, while individuals from out of state are limited to quarter-ounce purchases. State law also limits cultivation to six marijuana plants per person.
Those limits were not enough to deter a 30-year-old high school sports coach who is visiting Colorado from North Carolina but gave his name only as Matt.
Marijuana remains classified an illegal narcotic under US law. But in a major policy shift in August, the Obama administration said it would give states leeway to experiment with pot legalization, and let Colorado and Washington carry out their new laws permitting recreational use.
The state has issued a total of 348 recreational pot licenses to businesses statewide, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue's Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Of those, 136 are for retail stores, 178 for cultivation operations, 31 for manufacturing of infused edibles and other sundries, and three are for testing facilities.
Last month, Colorado voters approved a combined 15 percent excise and 10 percent sales tax to be imposed on recreational pot sales, with the first $40 million raised to fund school construction projects.
The Colorado Legislative Council estimates the marijuana taxation scheme will generate $67 million annually in tax revenue to state coffers.
Only people over age 21 can buy recreational pot. Public use of marijuana remains illegal, as is driving while stoned. The state has set a blood-THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) limit of 5-nanogram-per-milliliter threshold for motorists.
Other states are taking a wait-and-see approach to the Colorado and Washington experiments before they take the leap toward legalization, said Rachel Gillette, head of Colorado's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
REUTERS