Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., legalized recreational marijuana, while only some communities in Colorado chose to expand businesses. Voters in Lakewood, Manitou Springs and Federal Heights passed initiatives allowing retail marijuana shops to operate, while voters in Palmer Lake and Ramah in El Paso County voted against recreational sales. Voters in Palisade in Mesa County also apparently narrowly rejected recreational pot sales.

Nearly 100 new businesses received their licenses from Colorado regulators Oct. 1.

Yet many of these new, voter-approved pot shops may find it difficult to survive a drug war-era tax code that already threatens many established businesses.

Under the code, the federal government stands to make more money from the sale of marijuana than those legally selling it. And that could be enough to shut down many shops. [Read More]