In a historic swirl of commerce and cannabis, the world's first stores licensed to sell marijuana legally to anyone 21 or older opened in Colorado on Wednesday. 
 
 From Telluride to Denver, thousands of people cheerfully stood in lines for hours to buy legal marijuana after presenting nothing more than identification. 
 
 Marijuana activists hailed the day as a watershed in their effort to overturn anti-cannabis laws. Store owners — several of whom said the turnout exceeded even their own ambitious expectations — feared running out of supply. 
 
 Police reported no problems with the crowds, and government officials marveled at the calm. 
 
 Tyler Alstrup, 23, paid $100 for an eighth, two joints and an edible at LoDo Wellness. (Sadie Gurman, The Denver Post) 
 
 Overall, the day went as marijuana activists had hoped it would: In the most extraordinary way possible, it was ordinary. 
 
 "I've been waiting 34 years for this moment," enthused Chrissy Robinson, who arrived at one store, Evergreen Apothecary in Denver, at 2 a.m. to be among the first in line. "I've been smoking since I was 14. No more sneaking around." 
 
 At least 37 stores across the state were fully licensed and opened to sell marijuana to anyone 21 or over for any purpose, according to official lists and Denver Post research. Sales could commence at 8 a.m., and activists — who campaigned for the marijuana-legalization measure whose passage in November 2012 made the sales possible — arranged a ceremonial "first purchase" at the Denver store 3D Cannabis Center. 
 
 The store used to be called "Denver's Discreet Dispensary," so the name change speaks to the rapid evolution of Colorado's marijuana industry, which began in earnest only about four years ago. 3D Cannabis Center owner Toni Fox watched the clock carefully as the hour approached and dozens of reporters and photographers crowded into one of her store's tiny purchasing areas. 
 
 "It's 8 a.m.," she said. "I'm going to do it." 
 
 The first customer was 32-year-old Sean Azzariti, an Iraq war veteran who campaigned for marijuana legalization and said he uses cannabis to alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Under a canopy of cameras, Azzariti bought an eighth of an ounce of the marijuana strain Bubba Kush and a package of marijuana-infused candy truffles. 
 
 "We did it!" a beaming Azzariti said at the end of the purchase. 
 
 The cost was $59.74, including $10.46 in tax. At the bottom of the receipt was the message "Thank you for your purchase!" 
 
 "I'm confident these businesses will perform and be a good example of how states can regulate marijuana," activist Mason Tvert said just prior to the store's first purchase. "Today, there will be people around the country buying marijuana. But only in Colorado will they be buying it in stores like this one." 
 
 Concerns of foes 
 
 Opponents of legalization bemoaned the day as the beginning of what will be a disastrous venture for Colorado. Drug-treatment professionals said recreational sales will lead to increases in marijuana addiction among adults and kids. They compared the nascent recreational marijuana industry to the tobacco and liquor industries and said they expected it to spawn similar harms. 
 
 Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug-policy adviser, said that Wednesday marks the dawn of "Big Marijuana." 
 
 "In any addictive industry, such as this one, the only way to make money is off of addiction," he said Tuesday. 
 
 The Cannabist Newsletter Sign up to receive The Post's all-things-cannabis newsletter, delivering breaking news on marijuana developments and in-depth culture pieces on pot's evolving role in our day-to-day lives. From our new marijuana news site, The Cannabist. We promise we won't use your email address for anything else. 
 
 While marijuana sales remain illegal under federal law, no place in the world — not even Amsterdam — has gone as far as Colorado to legalize and regulate sales of marijuana. The law allows state residents to buy up to an ounce of marijuana and out-of-state residents a quarter-ounce. 
 
 Later this year, Washington state will launch a marijuana industry similar to Colorado's. The U.S. Department of Justice has decided not to block legalization in either state, so long as the states implement strict regulations on the stores. 
 
 In a statement Wednesday, Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh said federal authorities "will be monitoring Colorado's efforts to regulate marijuana closely." 
 
 "Colorado's system is still very much a work in progress," he said. 
 
 Investigators from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division made compliance checks at stores throughout the day. In Denver, city officials kept an eye on things, too. 
 
 Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the large, mellow crowd he encountered during a visit to Medicine Man dispensary in Denver, where lines wrapped around the building and into a parking lot. 
 
 "It's kind of a relief, frankly," he said. "This could have gone a lot of different ways. So far, so good." 
 
 "What I love about it," Denver Councilman Albus Brooks said, "is the peacefulness of the crowd ... and the diversity." 
 
 Denver police said they issued two citations for public marijuana consumption, although a spokesman couldn't say whether those tickets were connected to marijuana sales. 
 
 A night-long drive In Telluride, Lucas DaSilva of Georgia drove through the night and slept in his car with his dog, Marley, before settling at the front door of the Telluride Green Room about dawn. A few hours later, he emerged from the store $180 lighter but holding 6 grams — about one-fifth of an ounce — of African Queen, Acapulco Gold and Bubble Gum strains of cannabis and several marijuana-infused edibles. 
 
 "I'm at a loss for words," he said, then, with arms outstretched, yelled, "Happy New Year!" — prompting cheers from the line. 
 
 "This is history I just made," he said. "I can't believe it. Such a blessing." 
 
 At 8 a.m., the lines of customers outside most stores were fairly short, but they lengthened as the day went on. By midafternoon, customers at BotanaCare in Northglenn said they waited as long as five hours to make their purchases. At LoDo Wellness, in Denver, the line stretched down the block, with a wait of about three hours. 
 
 Building owner Donald Andrews gazed at the line and called out, "It is a thing of beauty!" 
 
 A jump in prices Stores were charging $30 to $50 — and sometimes more — for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana, which is slightly to significantly higher than prices for medical marijuana. At least one store had increased its prices for opening day. For fear of running out on opening day, several stores, including 3D Cannabis, imposed added limits on how much customers could buy. 
 
 Standing in line outside 3D Cannabis, though, Brandon Harris, 24, didn't much care about the price, the limits or the wait. He and friend Tyler Williams, also 24, said they had driven 20 hours straight from Cincinnati to be in Denver for the first day of sales. Now that they're here, Harris said, they're not going back home. 
 
 "We're staying," he said. "We're going to become residents." 
 
 Staff writers Sadie Gurman, Steve Raabe, Zahira Torres, Eric Gorski and Jason Blevins contributed to this report. ||||| DENVER (AP) — Crowds were serenaded by live music as they waited for the nation's first legal recreational pot shops to open. They ate doughnuts and funnel cakes as a glass-blower made smoking pipes. Some tourists even rode around in a limo, eager to try weed but not so eager to be seen buying it. 
 
 A recreational marijuana menu and price list sits on a counter at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began retail... (Associated Press) 
 
 DENVER, CO - JANUARY 01: Customers wait in line, which was more than 300 deep by 10 a.m., on the first day of retail marijuana sales at LoDo Wellness in Denver Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Customers can legally... (Associated Press) 
 
 Before opening for business, a private security guard watches the door at 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver, early Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Employees help customers at the crowded sales counter inside Medicine Man marijuana retail store, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Employees help customers at the crowded sales counter inside Medicine Man marijuana retail store, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver on Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began... (Associated Press) 
 
 Customers stand in line shortly after the opening of 3D Cannabis Center, which opened as a legal recreational retail outlet in Denver at 8am on Wednesday Jan. 1, 2014. Colorado began retail marijuana... (Associated Press) 
 
 And when the sales began, those who bought the drug emerged from the stores, receipt held high and carrying sealed shopping bags, to cheers. 
 
 "I'm going to frame the receipt when I go home, to remind myself of what might be possible: Legal everywhere," said musician James Aaron Ramsey, 28, who did some time in jail for pot possession in Missouri and played folk tunes with his guitar for those in line. 
 
 Activists hope he's right, and that the experiment in Colorado will prove to be a better alternative to the costly American-led drug war, produce the kind of revenue that state officials hope and save the government costs in locking up drug offenders. 
 
 Just on the first day, prices in some places rose to more than $500 an ounce, and some shops announced midafternoon they would close early because of short supply. It's too soon to say whether the price spikes and long lines will persist. 
 
 Washington state will open its pot industry later this year. Both states' programs will be watched closely not just by officials in other states, but by activists and governments in other countries because the industries will be the first to regulate the production and sale of the drug. 
 
 Some countries have decriminalized the drug, and the Netherlands lets people buy and sell it, but it's illegal to grow or process it. 
 
 Just as shops opened Wednesday, the Denver Police Department tweeted, "Do you know the law?" and linked to city websites on state and local laws that include bans on public consumption, driving under the influence, taking marijuana out of state and giving pot to anyone under 21. 
 
 Denver police said one person was issued a summons for public consumption. The Colorado State Patrol reported no pot-related incidents. No pot-related incidents were reported at Denver International Airport, where signs warned travelers that they can't take the drug home. 
 
 At least 24 pot shops in eight towns opened. In Denver, pot users welcomed the new year and the new industry by firing up bongs and cheering in a cloud of marijuana smoke at a 1920s-themed "Prohibition Is Over" party — a reference to the 1930s-era law that outlawed marijuana. 
 
 Shopper Jacob Elliott said he wrote reports in college about the need to end pot prohibition, but never thought it could happen in his lifetime. 
 
 "This breaks that barrier," said Elliott, who traveled to Colorado from Leesburg, Va., to be among the first to buy legal weed. 
 
 Preparation for the retail market started more than a year ago, soon after Colorado and Washington voters in 2012 approved legal pot industries. Uruguay passed a law in December to become the first nation to regulate pot, but regulatory system isn't in place yet. 
 
 Pot advocates, who had long pushed legalization as an alternative to the drug war, had argued it would generate revenue for state coffers — and in Colorado's case to support education — and save money by not locking up low-level drug offenders. 
 
 "I feel good about it. The money's going to schools," said shopper Joseph Torres of Denver. 
 
 The price for high-quality weed at some shops was around $400 an ounce. That's about four times what smokers are paying on the black market in Colorado, according to crowd-sourced Internet surveys. Much of the extra cost was attributed to state and local taxes in excess of 25 percent. 
 
 People who were waiting in line shared their pot incarceration stories over coffee and funnel cakes. 
 
 "Trafficking conviction. Nineteen years old. For a plant, how stupid," said 24-year-old Brandon Harris, who drove 20 hours from Blanchester, Ohio. 
 
 Colorado set up an elaborate plant-tracking system to try to keep the drug away from the black market, and regulators set up packaging, labeling and testing requirements, along with potency limits for edible pot. 
 
 The U.S. Justice Department outlined an eight-point slate of priorities for pot regulation, requiring states to keep the drug away from minors, criminal cartels, federal property and other states in order to avoid a federal crackdown. 
 
 With the additional police patrols, the airport warnings and various other measures, officials hoped they have enough safeguards in place to avoid predictions of public health and safety harm from the opening of the pot shops. 
 
 A group of addiction counselors and physicians said they're seeing more marijuana addiction problems, especially in youths, and that wider pot availability will exacerbate the problem. 
 
 "This is just throwing gas on the fire," said Ben Cort of the Colorado Center for Dependency, Addiction & Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Hospital. 
 
 Some medical marijuana patients groups say they're worried about supply. That's because the retail inventory for recreational use is coming entirely from the preexisting medical inventory. Many in the industry warned patients to stock up before the sales began. 
 
 It was too soon to tell whether prices for medical marijuana patients were going up. 
 
 For now, they should have plenty of places to shop. Most of Colorado's 500 or so medical marijuana shops haven't applied to sell recreational pot, and many that have plan to serve both recreational and medical patients 
 
 The industry has not just given rise to shops, but a whole line of other businesses, including tours. 
 
 Addison Morris, owner of Rocky Mountain Mile High Tours, had 10 clients waiting inside a limo who paid $295 for three hours of chauffeuring by a "marijuana concierge" who would help them choose strains and edible pot products. 
 
 Morris said she's booked through the end of February with out-of-state clients, who get samples in designer bags. And for the tours, guests are asked to leave cameras at home. She said she's selling discretion. 
 
 "We're your grandmother's pot connection," the 63-year-old said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt . Associated Press writer Jim Anderson contributed to this report.
– America's first legal recreational marijuana went on sale in Colorado yesterday and "Green Wednesday" was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a pretty mellow affair. At least 24 pot stores in eight towns opened for business and police say there were no incidents, apart from one person being issued a summons for public consumption, the AP reports. There were no problems at Denver International Airport, where signs warn travelers about taking marijuana out of the state. The smooth launch of recreational pot was watched with interest by pro-marijuana activists from around the country and around the world. "I've been waiting 34 years for this moment," a woman who had been waiting outside a marijuana store since 2am tells the Denver Post. "I've been smoking since I was 14. No more sneaking around." One potential problem: State and local taxes brought the price of high-quality legal weed up to around $400 an ounce in some places, about four times the cost on the black market.