Calling all pot-o-preneurs: In Washington state, where recreational marijuana is now legal for adults, political leaders are urging participants in this emerging industry to join the Rotary. Go mainstream. Be part of the business community.
We are just starting to see the first, hard details in the tricky balancing act of transforming an illegal business into a legal one, in Washington as well as in Colorado. With numerous state regulations and considerable watchdogging by the federal government, which still considers marijuana illegal, the big deal about legalization is that it may not be such a big deal. At least not right away.
In Washington, it now seems that tax revenue won't be as plentiful as expected a little more than a year ago, when voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana. Seattle won't be Amsterdam, with pot smoke wafting out of coffee shops. (No smoking in public, no selling in coffee shops.) Pot stores won't be omnipresent.