Colorado county bullish on pot starts new weed scholarship

"Adding a scholarship that comes from an industry we are fostering is a logical method to address several of our community issues," including an unemployment rate that lags the statewide average, said Chris Markuson, Pueblo's economic development director.

Through aggressive recruitment efforts and financial incentives, the southern Colorado county has attracted a booming industry of marijuana growers fleeing higher costs in the Denver area.

The result is that most Colorado pot plants are grown in warehouses under expensive lighting, resulting in plants that are shielded from public view but also prone to mites and mildews because they're locked in enclosed spaces.

Pueblo also has taken the unusual step of putting marijuana growers on equal footing with traditional farmers when it comes to water rights — something it's able to do because its water supply in the Arkansas River Basin is controlled locally, not by the federal government.

Just last week Pueblo officials announced a $4.89 million incentives package to lure pot growers to convert a defunct Boeing rocket plant into a production facility for hemp oil that will eventually employ 163 people.