Dotted along the street, the shops are easy to spot – with long queues of eager buyers snaking outside.
Each store on the South Broadway strip – there are more of them than Starbucks – is protected by armed security guards openly displaying their firearms.
Customers have their IDs checked to ensure they are over 21. Many have driven hundreds of miles.
All for the chance to legally buy and take cannabis.
President Barack Obama , who used the drug when he was young, said this weekend he believes it no more dangerous than alcohol.
And while he described smoking pot as a “bad idea” he said he was keeping a close eye on America’s latest controversial experiment with the drug.
So, armed with my credit card I got in line to sample the drug in Denver, Colorado – the first state where possession and sale of marijuana has been legalised for recreational use.
Inside the Colorado Harvest Company, initially designed to resemble an Apple Store, staff talk each customer through the 38 different types of cannabis, including Buddha’s Sister, Lamb’s Breath and Power Kush.
Salesman Jahni Denver, 28, explains the “benefits” of each describing the setiva (energetic), indica (pain relieving) or hybrid highs they give off.
And so 20 minutes after entering the store, I walked out with two pre-rolled joints, an eighth of Sour Monkey weed, a bar of medical cannabis Peach Dream chocolate and a bag of infused Watermelon Tart sweets – all sealed in a black plastic bag as the law dictates.
Twenty minutes later I was checking in to the La Quinta hotel, one of the few in Denver that retains a handful of smoking rooms.
With its darkened walls, burnt carpet and pungent smell it was hard to see why anyone would want to stay in room 142.
But since the relaxation of cannabis legalisation it has become one of the most sought after beds in America. The shabby downtown hotel has become a haven for pot heads who, under law, are banned for consuming the drug in public.
And so carrying my purchases – along with two bags of Doritos crisps and a few bars of chocolate I was advised I would probably be craving later – I closed the door, took to the faux leather armchair and lit up my first ever joint.
Bill Clinton confessed to smoking pot and famously claimed he “didn’t inhale” but as I lit the tightly twisted spliff, thick smoke billowed from the end and I drew deeply, taking in the potent smoke.
There was no tobacco inside the four-inch cone, just pure medical-grade cannabis. And while Clinton ran the risk of arrest in Britain, here in Denver I was getting stoned perfectly legally, with the certificate, and receipt, to prove it.
But much like the ex-President who dabbled with the drug while a student at Oxford University during the flower power 60s, I can safely say that I didn’t like it either.
Within five minutes the effects started to kick in and a sense of light headedness began to take hold. I grew increasingly giddy and the fumes also began to affect the photographer who was with me.
The high, like a feeling of sheer contentment mixed with energy, lasted for about 10 minutes before it slowly began to wear off. It was only then the hunger set in, leaving my reaching for the Peach Dream and Watermelon Tarts.
They took considerably longer, about an hour to 75 minutes, for their effect to start as both needed time to digest, but when it did they had a similar feeling to the cannabis joint. The taste of the spliff lasted in my mouth for several hours while there was no chance of shaking off its distinctive smell from my clothes.
And while not everyone is thrilled with Colorado’s bold stance, the world is watching to see the effect on crime, the use of other drugs and, of course, the impact on the economy. And so far it seems to be a booming industry.
Since the beginning of the year Denver has lived up to it’s nickname as Colorado’s Mile High City– after raking in tens of millions of dollars from sales of the class B drug. The Centennial State voted in November to amend it’s constitution to protect “personal use” of marijuana for adults. It established a framework to regulate cannabis in a similar way to the sale of alcohol and allowed dozens of pot shops to open theirs doors on January 1.
Cannabis joints can be bought for as little as £6, although the good stuff can be as much as £49 for a quarter of an ounce.
And since the shops opened, legal weed has sold at an average of one $90 (£55) transaction every 90 seconds, leaving local officials salivating at the thought of the $314million (£191million) in taxes it will generate.
Standing in line I chatted to the mix of people, young and old, who had travelled to Denver after driving for up to 26 hours and from as far away as Massachusetts to get high. Friends Ashley Harris and Sarah Harbenberg, both 21, and Hannah Reese, 22, had planned their 800-mile journey from Dallas for weeks.
“The stuff they sell leaves me on my ass, it’s that good,” said admin assistant Sarah. “It is worth the trip and the expense.
“We’ve each had to pay towards the petrol and hotel rooms but our biggest layout will be on weed. I’ve taken time off work as once you smoke it all I am good for is laughs. Work is not an option on this s***.”
Not everyone is so enthusiastic and despite the change in the law, there is still strong opposition from politicians and police. Last week the head of America’s powerful Drug Enforcement Administration, James Capra, attacked the move.
“I have to say the, going down the path to legalisation in this country is reckless and irresponsible,” he said. “I’m talking about the long term impact of legalisation in the United States. It scares us.”
Under federal law cannabis remains illegal, which usually overrides State law. However President Obama has said his administration will not enforce federal marijuana restrictions in states where it has been decriminalised.
Washington state has also passed new laws which will see marijuana going freely on sale in April.
In Denver, visitors are restricted to a quarter of an ounce of cannabis unlike the city’s 634,000 residents who can buy four times as much.
Unlike more familiar Amsterdam, there are no coffee shops in Denver, however the city currently boasts 18 retail shops and, unlike the Dutch city, you can also grow your own.
Those too impatient to wait the five and half months it takes to cultivate the plants however not need worry as handy maps of their shops locations are available.
Any doubt city officials aren’t embracing their new laws is gone within moments of stepping off the plane as the tourist information counter at Denver International Airport offers a list of shops that sell the drug.
One Japanese restaurant, Hapa Sushi, even created their own food and weed pairing menu, although make it clear they do not sell the drug.
Tourism is springing up around the industry, too, with 420 Tours the city’s most established - showing off the medical cannabis industry, which became legal here in 2009, to visitors since last April.
The booming tourist industry is certainly not limited to young users.
Older pot lovers are offered a “cannabis concierge” on one tour who then drives them to various dispensaries while supplying cigarette papers, pipes and, of course an endless supply of munchies.
As I queued for my drugs I chatted to 74-year-old former U.S Air force officer and retired businessman, David Rawlings, who said he only started using marijuana when he turned 65.
Recreational cannabis is huge business in Colorado and despite it’s high taxation there is no shortage of wannabe weed millionaires.
One of the most successful is Tim Cullen, a former high school teacher, who jokes about the similarities between himself and Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
The 41-year-old left education in 2009 to set up his first medical marijuana dispensary, Evergreen Apothecary.
However since the recent change in law Tim has seen business bloom, with demand threatening to outstrip supply.
Describing the day Colorado voted in the new law, the father-of-one said: “It smelt a lot like freedom to me. It was an historic and brave day for this country and one that is a credit to our state. There are so many benefits to the move including that it has crushed the black market and the problems that comes with it.
“Britain would do well to follow suit.”
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