In a visit to Denver, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said he is looking to Colorado as he considers whether to support federal legalization of marijuana. But for now, he said, it's a step too far.

"I think we still have to watch, and we have to learn in Colorado and Washington state," he told reporters after a meeting with marijuana industry and legalization advocates Thursday. "I'm not there yet, but I am watching very closely what's happening."

The focus on the issue is emerging as a hot topic in the 2016 presidential campaign amid questions about how the federal government should respond to the increasing number of states moving toward legalization.

The temporary tax break could cost Colorado up to more than $NZ6m in revenue.

Colorado saw a sales increase last year in all three tax classes of alcohol.

Here’s how it all fits together. By comparison, state alcohol excise taxes raked in about $42m (£27m) – up 2.4% from 2013, the state said. The one-day pot tax holiday came after the state underestimated its overall state tax collections last year.

Curt Steiner, a political consultant and spokesman for Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies, said the report is handwriting on the wall if Ohio approves legalizing marijuana for recreational and medicinal use.

In early 2015, Denver officials cited a handful of commercial marijuana growers for misusing pesticides in indoor grow houses. Some of those businesses were also advertising their products as “chemical-free” and “organic.”

Because the drug is still illegal at the federal level, and state regulators are still playing catch up, growers can make all kinds of unchecked claims about their plants, without drawing the ire of consumer fraud regulators. That could soon change.

 Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, and use of the term organic is federally regulated, a licensed cannabis business cannot be certified as organic no matter their practices

Colorado’s attorney general is investigating several marijuana businesses over concerns the word “organic” in their names or advertising might be misleading to consumers.

The office is reviewing complaints from consumers that the “merchants have been misrepresenting their product when they say ‘organic’ or ‘organically grown,'” said Roger Hudson, spokesman for Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman. “We’re looking for information inside those complaints to make a determination on what those next steps are. Is it consumer fraud? Is it criminal?”

DENVER — Some called it Christmas for stoners. Others warned of marijuana anarchy.

Marijuana products across Colorado were nearly tax free on Wednesday — a one-time tax break forced by a quirk in the state Constitution. The break knocked away the state’s 10 percent tax on cannabis purchases — which is imposed on top of the existing state sales tax and any municipal taxes — and marijuana shops around the state spent months coordinating their distribution plans, advertising deep discounts in addition to the tax vacation and encouraging customers to start lining up at dawn.

DENVER — Tim Cullen smiled when he reckoned a one-day marijuana-tax holiday in Colorado had probably saved him tens of thousands of dollars.

Cullen, the owner of Colorado Harvest Co., a chain of marijuana dispensaries, was among the many growers and shoppers who benefited Wednesday from a quirk that required the state to suspend a 10 percent sales tax and a 15 percent wholesale excise tax for a day.

While shoppers saved roughly $20 an ounce, or about 33 cents per joint, pot growers saved $300 a pound.

“I probably saved $45,000 before lunch,” Cullen said.

Looking over a small tangle of pot shoppers in his suburban Denver shop, Cullen said the crowds weren’t huge, but the tax break would be a big win anyway.

The green market is headed for the stock market. Although dispensary businesses are having trouble securing financial services — because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level — several pot-related Colorado companies are either currently being publicly traded...or soon will be. How do they manage that? It’s never the cannabis-growing or -selling branch that goes public, but a sister company involved in consulting, tech or hospitality.

The federally funded Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is nothing if not predictable.

The organization has spent recent years on a jihad against marijuana, regularly rolling out reports suggesting that legalization is rapidly destroying the fabric of society in Colorado by way of statistics that critics have long seen as scientifically suspect and manipulated to achieve a political agenda.

Check out other industries that are benefiting from launchpads here.

Startups in the legal marijuana business have unique concerns—initially, finding a welcoming bank, credit card provider and landlord. Even those who don’t grow, sell or process the plant face obstacles most entrepreneurs don’t have to deal with. It’s no surprise, then, that incubators serving pot startups have cropped up nationwide to help.

One of the newest is Green Labs Denver, a 35-desk incubator and co-working space for ancillary cannabis businesses, such as apps, vending machines and tourism.

It clocked in at $70 million last fiscal year alone.

Pot is a boon for tax revenues in Colorado, outpacing revenue from alcohol taxes in the fiscal year ending on June 30.

Colorado collected almost $70 million in marijuana taxes during that time, nearly double the $42 million collected from alcohol taxes. The state had a tax holiday for marijuana on Wednesday, an event that was welcomed by consumers and producers alike.