For all of Colorado’s newfound hipness – it always has been a destination for skiing and scenery, but now there’s also craft beer and, well, y’know, pot – it’s the legalization of marijuana over four years ago that still leaves plenty of long-timers feeling like they woke up on the other side of the looking glass. And the editorial board of the venerable Pueblo Chieftain isn’t afraid to admit it is among those who remain uneasy. Yet it, too, is evolving.

That’s the gist of an editorial earlier this week by the Steel City’s longtime daily newspaper, which lauds the latest round of scholarships awarded to local students but waxes philosophical over the source of the funding: marijuana sales tax revenue:

We also have to admit that while the photos and the story about 210 Pueblo students receiving the scholarships were pleasing, we remain a bit unnerved by the source of the funding.

The students received the two $1,000 scholarships – one for each school year semester – from Pueblo County’s marijuana excise tax. In all, $420,000 from pot taxes went to the students.

Qualms? Well, there’s also a sense that it’s time to move on:

It still seems odd to us that marijuana is helping fund college educations, but the reality is, it’s time to get over it. If legal retail marijuana is here to stay, and that seems to be the case, then proceeds from it might as well be used for good purposes.

And helping young men and women with their high college expenses certainly is a good cause.

We admit to being old-fashioned about the entire marijuana issue, but several of the scholarship recipients who were interviewed by The Chieftain were not in the least bit bothered by any real or perceived stigma attached to the funding source.

“It’s going to something good. If it wasn’t going to something good, then maybe it would be a problem,” one student told our reporter.

It’s one thing for individual Coloradans – whether they had voted for or against Amendment 64 in 2012 – to adjust, or not, to the new culture surrounding legalization. It’s even more noteworthy, and interesting, to watch Colorado’s institutions evolve on the subject.