It was 2015, and the situation in Parachute was hitting bottom.
Natural gas prices had collapsed, and the town halfway between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs on Interstate 70 was staring at a budget crunch the likes of which it had rarely seen.
Sales tax revenue had shrunk by more than $200,000 from the previous year, and Town Manager Stuart McArthur was preparing for a possible curtain call for the 1,100-population community.
“Restaurants were closed; hotels were closed,” McArthur said. “We had to do something.”
That something was cannabis. After voting down legal pot sales in 2013, Parachute’s town council revisited the issue two years later. In fairly short order half a dozen pot shops, including Colorado’s only drive-through weed store, sprung up.
Read the full story via The Denver Post.
