Still, a traffic stop for other reasons could have more serious consequences if police find marijuana in the car. It is illegal to bring marijuana over the border to Utah, but multiple customers said they’ve never had a problem. “Why drive 300 miles and put your life at risk, when you can drive 30?” “If anyone had to travel in the wintertime to go to a dispensary in Salt Lake City, they’re not going to do it,” said Michael, a 37-year-old who, like most pot-shop customers who spoke with KFF Health News, declined to give his last name after buying marijuana at one of the stores. But for those living in Vernal or other eastern towns, Dinosaur is the closest place to buy cannabis in person. So, patients may have to travel hours to outlets in Salt Lake City or Ogden for an in-state supplier. Utah has legalized medical marijuana, but with tight restrictions and few places to buy it. “Right now, cannabis is Dinosaur’s lifeblood,” he said. He estimates that 95% of his business comes from out-of-state customers, some from as far away as North Dakota. Lando Blakley, who has lived in Dinosaur most of his life, opened the town’s third retail store, Dino Dispensary, in 2018. “You’d be shocked how much money comes through here,” said Jim Evans, the town’s treasurer. The four cannabis stores, which opened after the passage of a 2016 ballot measure, have changed the fortunes of a town that made repeated losing bets on other commodities before finally hitting the jackpot with marijuana. Utahans come to Dinosaur for lottery tickets, liquor, and pot. Coloradans from Dinosaur cross the border to get groceries and health care. It’s a classic story of a border town prospering from differing laws state to state, and how arbitrary lines drawn through a desolate landscape drive economic patterns. But until weed came to town, there was little to sustain the local economy. The crossroads had long been a stop where truckers filled their fuel tanks and their bellies. Highway 40 (that’s Brontosaurus Boulevard) and Colorado Highway 64 (Stegosaurus Freeway). A couple of gas stations, a liquor store, and a small motel line the two main drags, Brontosaurus Boulevard and Stegosaurus Freeway.īut this community of about 315 and its four marijuana dispensaries - one shop for every 79 residents - is a contender for the title of cannabis capital of Colorado.ĭinosaur, nestled in the northwestern corner of the state, is a five-minute drive to the Utah line and a couple of hours away from Wyoming, both states where recreational marijuana use is illegal.ĭinosaur lies at the intersection of U.S. There isn’t much to this town a short drive from the national monument of the same name.
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