Legally bombed

San Francisco is playing host for the Coachella of cannabis with tens of thousands of folks expected for the annual 4/20 smoke fest in Golden Gate Park and elsewhere. Expect a sprawling, cloudy gathering but with a different twist from years past.

Since January, marijuana products are fully legal, meaning the get-together no longer has an outlaw edge, though the risk was never much to worry about here. This year’s celebration is highly organized and city sanctioned with crowd controls and extra shuttle service.

A pointless prohibition is thankfully over. California plus eight other states and the District of Columbia have moved from tolerance to medical cannabis to overthe-counter sales. Another 29 states allow medical use. But while social outlooks have changed, reality hasn’t caught up.

The full rollout of legalization isn’t at hand. It will take years, predicts Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who headed a state study group on the topic that mapped out a complicated future. Cannabis-tolerant counties haven’t completed rules overseeing sales, retail locations or taxes. Growers aren’t coming out of the woods to sign up as legal sellers, suggesting a black market for weed will continue. Enforcement of health laws, driving rules and environmental precautions remains a work in process.

The state’s design of cannabis regulation gives local communities plenty of say in how legalization looks, and that free hand means some counties are unwilling to allow sales because of crime fears or unfamiliarity with a once-forbidden product. Other localities such as San Francisco and Alameda are putting cannabis on a pedestal with billboards, smoking lounges and rules to help local residents punished for marijuana use in the past.

Legalizing cannabis turns out to be the easy part. The job of adopting sensible and workable rules remains. It may take several more 4/20 events before that’s accomplished.