As Colorado stores began legally selling marijuana to customers on Wednesday, CNN hyped the opening as "history being made" and an "amazing experience to be a part of and to witness."
"[H]istory being made there in Colorado," noted New Day co-host Michaela Pereira on Thursday. Anchor Ashleigh Banfield excitedly reported that "some people have waited a lifetime and others have waited in line for hours in the cold just for a chance to legally buy some weed just to smoke for fun." [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Correspondent Casey Wian hailed the "amazing" moment on Thursday morning:
"Fredricka it was really an amazing experience to be a part of and to witness. I'm surrounded by marijuana plants that are destined for Evergreen Apothecary which is where we spent New Year's Day the first day that Coloradoans could legally buy pot without a prescription for recreational use. Business was busier than even the owners ever expected."
On Wednesday's The Situation Room, fill-in host Dana Bash described the jubilation of customers: "Prohibition is over. That's the sentiment for many in Colorado today as recreational marijuana hits the shelves for the first time in our nation's history."
Anchor Martin Savidge had some fun explaining the "history" of the day: "This will likely go down in history as the day, and I like this, Mary Jane goes mainstream."
Below is a transcript of relevant quotes:
1/1/14
NEWSROOM
MARTIN SAVIDGE: This will likely go down in history as the day, and I like this, Mary Jane goes mainstream. Pot, long-time symbol of the counter culture, traditionally slipped from hand to hand in those dark, smoky, surreptitiously lit rooms. Well, as of today, you can legally buy marijuana in Colorado, right out in the open, take it home, use it for fun, just like, say, buying alcohol, except for the long lines.
(...)
THE SITUATION ROOM
5:26 p.m. EST
DANA BASH: Prohibition is over. That's the sentiment for many in Colorado today as recreational marijuana hits the shelves for the first time in our nation's history.
(...)
(...)
1/2/14
NEW DAY
6:24 p.m. EST
MICHAELA PEREIRA: Yeah, history being made there in Colorado.
(...)
NEWSROOM
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Casey, how did that first full day go?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka it was really an amazing experience to be a part of and to witness. I'm surrounded by marijuana plants that are destined for Evergreen Apothecary, which is where we spent New Year's Day, the first day that Coloradoans could legally buy pot without a prescription for recreational use. Business was busier than even the owners ever expected.
(...)
LEGAL VIEW
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD: Well some people have waited a lifetime and others have waited in line for hours in the cold just for a chance to legally buy some weed just to smoke for fun. And now, under a new law in Colorado, they can do it any time they want. So how did things go on this history-making first day of buying weed legally?
