Open for Business: Legal Marijuana Sales Underway in Washington

Photo Credit: APWashington state’s marijuana industry is now open for business.

Twenty months after voters legalized recreational marijuana, the first pot stores are licensed and selling the drug. And business was already booming.

Amber McGowan, a manager at Cannabis City in Seattle, said she’s expecting to sell all 10 pounds in the store this first historic day.

“There’s definitely a market out there that would rather go the safe route, because a lot of people don’t like going to their dealer,” McGowan said. “The dealer is usually pretty shady.”

Washington state follows Colorado, which was the first to open pot retail stores on Jan. 1. Voters in both states legalized possession of up to an once of marijuana for recreational use in November 2012. Colorado was able to approve sales earlier because it licensed only medical marijuana shops that were already tightly regulated. Washington’s medical marijuana industry operates with very little government oversight.

Read more from this story HERE.