The world's history with weed is far from recent, or consistent, as proven by a few facts we dug up.

Whether you like it or not, the green sticky-icky zoom plant is now a cultural mainstay for Colorado. People and organizations the world over are looking to us for successful blueprints on how to make it a globally productive choice for well-meaning adults. But the world's history with it is far from recent, or consistent, as proven by a few facts we dug up.

1. Eighty-six percent of Americans live in states that allow some form of legal cannabis use.

2. Legal cannabis is the fastest growing industry in the US and sold $5.4 billion worth of goods in 2015 alone.

3. The first online sales transaction between two parties was for the purchase of an undisclosed amount of weed between students at Stanford and MIT in the early ‘70s.

4. In 1682, hemp was accepted as legal tender in Virginia to try and encourage farmers to grow more of it. Similar laws were enacted later by Maryland and Pennsylvania.

5. Marijuana was often recommended as a substitute for booze in the 1890s during the temperance movement (a social push to ban alcohol) because women were never afraid of being beaten when their husbands were stoned.

6. Weed is perfectly legal and isn’t even considered a drug in North Korea.

7. In Colorado there are more dispensaries than McDonald’s, Starbucks and 7-11s combined.

8. The very first American Flag, sewn by Betsy Ross, is made out of hemp fibers.

9. On Oct 2, 1937 (the day the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act was enacted), Denver resident Samuel R. Caldwell became the first person to ever be arrested for marijuana possession. He was given four years hard labor and a $1000 fine.

10. In theory, an individual would have to smoke around 1,500 pounds of pot in less than 15 minutes to die of an overdose.

Sources: ArcView Market Research, NORML, The Guardian, Medical Daily, Colorado.gov, Drug Library, “Cannabis: A History” (by Martin booth)