Natalie Gochnour, associate dean at the David Eccles School of Business and expert on Utah’s economy, wrote an editorial in the latest issue of Utah Business magazine in which she dissects how the legalization of marijuana in Colorado will affect that state’s economy–as well as how those affects will carry over into neighboring Utah.
“Politically, Colorado leans blue and Utah is decidedly red. Colorado fronts the flatlands of the Great Plains,” Gochnour writes in the editorial called “Going to Pot.” “Utah fronts the Great Basin and also has the most amazing red rock on earth. Colorado’s population is much larger than Utah’s, with 2.3 million more residents. What Utah lacks in size it makes up with accessibility. Unlike Denver, in Salt Lake City you really can have a “cabin in the city.” Our airport is 15 minutes from downtown and 45 minutes from multiple ski resorts. Colorado … well, let’s just say I still haven’t figured out why they put their airport in Nebraska.”
“The people of Colorado have now embraced another difference—the legalization of recreational marijuana use by adults ages 21 and older. This acceptance of marijuana is a big difference and one that, I think, will advantage Utah.”
To read the complete article, visit the Utah Business website right here.
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