Skin up for the Centennial State. Colorado's cannabis experiment began on 1 January when the state became the first place in the world to legalise the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.
As well as instantly making the state the stoner capital of America, the move allows for unprecedented data-gathering. Within the year, we could discover whether legal availability erases black market sales, and whether traffic accidents decrease as drinkers switch to marijuana, says Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "It will also be interesting to see if we get a noticeable decline in jail populations, as fewer people are arrested for illegally selling or using marijuana," he says.
Assessing how marijuana of different strengths affects psychosis, memory, depression and schizophrenia will become possible. Other trends will take longer to emerge, such as whether legalisation has an impact on the number of people dependent on the drug. "The major uncertainties are how much use may increase, and over what time," says Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
One drawback for researchers is that users' identities and purchase patterns will remain confidential. "You would know vastly more about patterns of use if you could know the ages, demographics and locations of users," says Caulkins.
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