[420 Girl]

Medical marijuana dispensaries are mushrooming all over Colorado’s major cities, just the way coffee shops, nail parlours, tanning salons or taco shops spring up everywhere.

Although, Colorado voted to allow the use and sale of medical marijuana ten years ago, it is only in the past six months that the number of patients and dispensaries have gone up.

While, Denver has 250 dispensary storefronts, Boulder, Colo. has over a 100. The state has issued over 66,000 cards allowing holders to purchase medical pot, so far., with a card demand so high there’s a six-month waiting period.

Now, over 100,000 Coloradans can buy medicinal marijuana legally. As of 1st April, walk-in applications are no longer being accepted at the state health department’s Medical Marijuana Registry, only processing those sent by mail.

Mark Salley of the Colorado Health Department says the changes are necessary as there has been an explosive growth in the number of medical marijuana applications, which have jumped from 270 per workday in August 2009 to 1,000 in February 2010.

Even so, there are not many who see legalised marijuana as a way of improving the economy and creating jobs.

And like California, the first to legalise medical marijuana in 1996, Colorado’s marijuana infrastructure and culture are far ahead of the other 12 states that have also legalised it.

While, Hawaii, Alaska, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Oregon, Vermont and Washington allow the practice, they are in the beginning stages.

Fourteen states namely, Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin, have similar ballot measures or legislation allowing medical marijuana pending this year.

To obtain a medical marijuana card in Colorado, a licensed physician must be seen and who will provide written documentation of a ‘debilitating medical condition’, such as, cancer, glaucoma, AIDS or HIV-positive status, seizures, severe pain, severe nausea or severe muscle spasms.

Typically, a doctor’s visit costs around $150 and consisting of a 5 to 10-minute conversation.

Some dispensaries have doctors on site, with the state charging a $90 processing fee, with dispensaries adding other handling charges for a total patient cost of around $250, with an ounce of medical marijuana costing around $350, and is sufficient to last about six weeks.

However, dispensaries are far more than smoking dens, with marijuana bought and sold in a variety of edible forms like caramel corn made with marijuana-laced butter, chocolate-covered cherries, rice cake treats and frozen pizzas.

As well, Denver’s Mile High Ice Cream makes dozens of flavours with marijuana, with bottled soft drinks, pills and tinctures also available.

Dispensaries also sell all kinds of drug paraphernalia, such as, pipes, lighters, scented candles and smokeless delivery systems called vaporizers costing several hundred dollars apiece.

Expanding their range of services offered, usually by arranging patient appointments and providing operating space for a practitioner, while one can also avail oneself of a massage, acupuncture and other alternative healing methods.

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