Legal marijuana business could turn into America's next corporate giant
Opponents say health damage being ignored in 'Big Tobacco redux'
The people who made a hippy dream come true do not look the part. Instead of tie-dye T-shirts, the campaigners who masterminded the legalisation of recreational marijuana use in Colorado wore dark suits and ties to celebrate the world's first legal retail pot sales. Instead of talking about the counterculture, they spoke of regulations, taxes and corporate responsibility. They looked sober, successful - mainstream.
With Washington state poised to follow Colorado later this year, and activists in a dozen other states preparing to fight for legalisation, a once-illicit plant is now a legitimate industry, complete with advocates, interest groups and lobbyists.
The Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, the Medical Marijuana Industry Group and the National Cannabis Industry Association are just some of the groups now vying to shape public opinion and government policy.
For the likes of Diane Goldstein, a former lieutenant commander with the Los Angeles police who became an activist for the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the groundswell of support for legalisation is welcome evidence that society has turned against the drug war. "It's no longer dangerous for people to have a rational view about a failed policy," she said.
The marijuana lobby is going from being purely ideological to being industrial
But for Dr Kevin Sabet, of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana which opposes legalisation, the celebratory scenes in Denver pot shops last week is proof that a Big Tobacco-style campaign of manipulation has prevailed.
Many Americans, he said are unaware that cannabis can cause long-term health damage, especially to the young, and that the American Medical Association opposes legalisation. "It's Big Tobacco redux," Sabet said, who also directs the drug policy institute at the University of Florida's department of psychiatry.