The first recreational pot market in the U.S. has notched another marijuana first. Colorado started using marijuana taxes to fund police efforts to crack down on illegal growing operations.
The measure sets aside nearly $6 million a year in Colorado marijuana tax revenue to reimburse police for investigating black-market marijuana activity that authorities say has increased since the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2012.
The fund was backed by police groups who complain that marijuana legalization has attracted illicit marijuana growers along with legal ones.
The bill was also backed by Colorado's marijuana industry amid complaints that illegal growing operations undercut prices of pot grown legally and give legalization a bad name.
