Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jul 2014
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2014 the Associated Press
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Gene Johnson, the Associated Press
Page: 6A

POT SHOPS OPEN IN WASHINGTON

Customers Cheer First Legal Marijuana Sale Without Doctor's Note

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Cale Holdsworth strode to the counter at Top 
Shelf Cannabis, inspected and sniffed a glass jar filled with 
marijuana, and said: "I'll take two grams."

Holdsworth paid $26.50 and held up the brown bag containing his pot 
as people applauded the store's first transaction as Washington on 
Tuesday became the second state to allow people to buy marijuana 
legally in the U.S. without a doctor's note.

"This is a great moment," said the 29-year-old from Abilene, Kan.

People began buying marijuana at 8 a.m. at Top Shelf Cannabis, which 
started selling the drug as soon as it was allowed under state 
regulations. Before it opened, several dozen people lined up outside 
the shop in this liberal college town of about 80,000 north of Seattle.

Holdsworth was first in line with his girlfriend, Sarah Gorton, and 
her younger brother. They showed up at 4 a.m.

Gorton said the trio was in Bellingham for her grandfather's 84th 
birthday. State law allows both Washington residents and people from 
out of state to purchase a limited amount of pot.

"It's just a happy coincidence and an opportunity we're not going to 
have for a long time," said Gorton, a 24. "I'm really thrilled to be 
a part of something that I never thought would happen."

In Seattle, hundreds of people waited in the warm sunshine outside 
the city's first pot shop, Cannabis City, which opened at noon.

Store owner James Lathrop, holding scissors to cut the ribbon for the 
opening, said it was time to "free the weed."

The first customer, 65-year-old retiree Deb Greene, hugged and 
thanked Alison Holcomb, the author of Washington's marijuana law, 
before she placed her order for 8 grams, total $160.01 with tax.

"It's so remarkable," Greene said. "We're showing the way."

The start of legal pot sales in Washington marks a major step that's 
been 20 months in the making.

Washington and Colorado stunned much of the world by voting in 
November 2012 to legalize marijuana for adults over 21 and to create 
state-licensed systems for growing, selling and taxing the pot. Sales 
began in Colorado on Jan. 1.

Washington issued its first 24 retail licenses Monday. Only about six 
planned to open Tuesday: two in Bellingham, one in Seattle, one in 
Spokane, one in Prosser and one in Kelso. Some were set to open later 
this week or next, while others said it could be a month or more 
before they could acquire marijuana to sell.

It's been a bumpy ride with product shortages expected as growers and 
sellers scrambled to prepare. Pot prices were expected to be higher 
than what people pay at the state's unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries.

That largely was because of the short supply of legally produced pot 
in the state. Although more than 2,600 people applied to become 
licensed growers, fewer than 100 have been approved, and only about a 
dozen were ready to harvest by early this month.

Colorado had a regulated medical marijuana system, making for a 
smoother transition when it allowed dispensaries to start selling to 
recreational pot shops.

Washington's medical system is unregulated, so officials were 
starting from scratch as they immersed themselves in the pot world 
and tried to come up with regulations that made sense for the 
industry and the public.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom