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Global Business: Colorado's Big Marijuana Experiment

Cannabis plant

07/05/2016 GMT

Colorado's Big Marijuana Experiment

BBC World Service - Global Business, Colorado's Big Marijuana Experiment

Marijuana is now legal in some US states. How is the experiment working in Colorado?

Marijuana is now legal in the US state of Colorado - but not according to federal law, which prohibits its sale. How does the fast-growing industry manage this legal limbo?

Marijuana is now legal in some US states and a fast-growing industry has emerged, especially in Colorado which was the first state to embrace the drug. But according to federal law marijuana is still illegal. This means that many companies cannot get banking services, advertise their wares or pay tax in the way that other companies do. So how do they survive and thrive? And in what direction is the US moving? Will marijuana soon become a legal drug, like alcohol, across the US? Or will law-makers decide that Colorado's big marijuana experiment has gone too far? And, what is it like to run a company in one of the world's riskiest business sectors?

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