The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and the recent passage of a similar bill in the New Hampshire House has sparked debate about the substance's legalization in the Granite State.

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The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and the recent passage of a similar bill in the New Hampshire House has sparked debate about the substance's legalization in the Granite State.Click here to watch News 9's report.In the Mile High City of Denver, there's a lot of opportunity for word play, but when it comes to the retail sale of recreational marijuana, this is serious business. Ever since Colorado legalized the sale of marijuana on the first of the year, LoDo Wellness Center in Denver has actually had to ration its sales just to keep up with demand.“To keep up with that, to keep our doors open, we are limiting purchases to three grams ... whether you are in state or out of state. We could sell it all out in a week, but I want to just like keep our doors open and keep the whole thing going,” said Linda Andrews, the owner of LoDo Wellness Center.Andrews didn’t say how much profit her store is generating, and Colorado has yet to compile any hard statewide statistics. But Andrews said in a single day of recreational sales, her store exceeds a month’s worth of sales when pot was only sold for medicinal purposes.The customers come from every state around the world and every walk of life."(Customers include a) 25-year-old kid in college up to a 60-year-old businessman with his wife," Andrews said."There’s a huge amount of demand for legal marijuana,” said Rep. Joel Winters, D-Manchester.In January, the New Hampshire House surprised a lot of observers when it passed a bill legalizing the retail sale of up to an ounce of pot to those over the legal drinking age, and that was despite a pledged veto of the bill from Gov. Maggie Hassan a day earlier.“We have some challenges in our state when it comes to substance abuse. We need to be focusing on that and I just think it's the wrong message to send to young people,” Hassan said.Last summer, Gov. Hassan signed a bill legalizing medicinal marijuana, but the regulatory and distribution structure on that is still at least a year away.Regulations would also be a hurdle for legalized marijuana. For instance, commercial banks may not handle the money, and the state would need to decide who could be a grower and distributor and how they'd be taxed.The Department of Revenue estimates that 15 percent tax would bring in as much as $26 million to $40 million, though that estimate was for consumers 18 and older, and the bill under consideration is for those 21 and over."We are going to drive out of business the black market that is hurting our youth,” said Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester. “(I) think the state could do very well at by taxing this at a moderate level."Former Rhode Island congressman and self-admitted addict Patrick Kennedy is leading a national crusade against legalizing marijuana, saying the real target market for the new industry is the next generation."We all know that the advertising is so sophisticated. The flavored alcohol, the hard lemonade, the cable advertising is all targeting kids, and that's just like Joe Camel and the tobacco industry used to do: target kids. They know that’s their new market and so you can’t expect it not to be the case with the big marijuana industry also targeting kids,” said Kennedy.Kennedy may have a point, judging from the Colorado menu items, called Heavy Duty Fruity or Cheezequake.And then there’s the pot sold in edible forms."I think we do have a couple brownies up there and some hard candies and maybe some gummy bears,” said Andrews."It’s not the marijuana of the past. This is a wholly new drug. It’s genetically modified to increase the potency of THC," said Kennedy.Andrews says the business is regulated to the hilt, ranging from production to sales to the staff that sells it."Judging from what I’ve seen, everyone here is just being careful and cautious and they are not out there going crazy. It’s just something we're not used to. Soon we'll be used to it and it won’t be any different from alcohol,” said Andrews.And in a state like New Hampshire, where much of its revenue is derived from the sale of booze, and if the governor has her way, a casino, it’s fair to ask where the difference lies.“Two wrongs don't make a right. And we can argue which is worse, but the fact is, neither is any good. And the fact we want to compound our problems with addiction by adding new challenges to mental health and addiction, that's what we are asking for,” said Kennedy.Despite the move by the New Hampshire House this year, most insiders believe legalizing marijuana has very little chance of passing the Senate, much less the support it would need to override a veto by Hassan.But the debate is happening, and if Colorado can show this is a legit business that doesn't cause a spike in social problems like crime and addiction, it might be increasingly difficult to argue against giving pot a shot.