Marijuana off to blazing start in California
DESERT HOT SPRINGS — It's the first day that marijuana can be bought and sold legally in California, and store owner Nicole Salisbury's stock of pot edibles is already running low.
The phone has been ringing non-stop for weeks with people from out-of-state expressing an interest in sampling her wares.
"I'm so excited but I'm also a little bit nervous," says Salisbury, who has been in the marijuana business for a decade and opened Green Pearl Organics as a medical dispensary two years ago.
"For the first time, I feel comfortable telling people that I own a marijuana shop," added the 35-year-old, who has vibrant blue-green hair.
Eight states as well as the capital Washington have already legalized recreational use of the drug, though it remains outlawed at the federal level.
But California's sheer size – its roughly 40 million people make it America's most populous state – as well as its booming economy mean it is expected to be the world's largest market for the green flowering plant.
California became a pioneer when it legalized medicinal use of pot in 1996, and its decision to expand that to recreational use effective Monday will be watched closely around the world by countries hoping to cash in on the so-called "green rush."
Throughout the Golden State on Monday, marijuana aficionados formed lines outside legal shops, no longer forced to conduct business with illicit dealers on the down low.
At Green Pearl Organics, Salisbury's team has been working since 8:00 am, helping customers with their various products – waxes, brownies, different forms of weed to soothe or to induce highs.
After a quiet morning following New Year's Eve celebrations, the shop starts to overflow by midday.
Some elderly customers – longtime buyers who have been coming to the store since it opened – are annoyed that they now have to wait in long lines.
Some complain that only medical use should have remained legal, while others are unhappy at the heavy taxes applied to cannabis, which exceed 20 percent when state, sales and municipal taxes are added.