Adults above the age of 21 will now able to buy marijuana for recreational purposes from the select shops in California. California is now the largest legal marijuana marketplace in the world.
As the rollout of this new law spreads across the state, selected shops have opened which have obtained an adult-use retail license from the Bureau of Cannabis Control, which is the California state agency regulating the industry.
“This was another milestone in California’s voter-approved efforts to be smarter and more cost-effective about preventing real crime,” Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom said. ”Now it’s time for California to transition a billion-dollar industry largely existing in the shadows of the black market into a tracked, traced, taxed and tightly regulated system.”
The state of California also happens to be one of the most populated U.S. states and was also the first one to start the trend for medical marijuana. The California state’s new marijuana industry is projected to be valued at as much as $7 billion and is expected to eventually generate an annual revenue of $1 billion in both, local and state taxes.
“We are thrilled to be one of the first recipients of a state license and are thankful for the opportunity to now serve quality cannabis to a larger community in a safe and welcoming environment,” Étienne Fontán, the vice president and director of the company said.
Fontán had been a longtime supporter of recreational marijuana legalization and said that his shop has been adding the inventory for what will likely be a busy day of sales.
California had been producing huge amounts of marijuana and has been doing so for a long time. Now, after a time period of 20 years, the state has finally legalized medical marijuana, while around 28 of the other states allow cannabis for strictly medical purposes. Eight states including California and the District of Columbia are now enjoying legalized cannabis for recreational purposes in adults above 21 years of age.
“California is going to have a major impact on the public’s view of cannabis, not just in the U.S., but around the world,” Mason Tvert, another supporter of the progressive drug laws and a partner at VS Strategies, a firm focusing on the communications and government relations and on marijuana policy, said in a statement. “California is our country’s number one tourism destination, with millions of people from around the country and hundreds of thousands from around the world visiting each year. A whole lot of people are going to witness this system. They will see that it works, and they will share their experiences with others back home.”
On the matter, President Trump said in a statement that he respects the state’s right on this issue.
Furthermore, Tvert said, “Federal officials have been engaging in more cannabis-related dialogue than ever with state officials, and it seems like they recognize the catastrophe that would be caused by significantly interfering in state regulatory systems. These state laws are working, and it would be very difficult to justify disrupting them.”
A recent poll survey came out with a result that said, 64 percent of the Americans are in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana, 64 percent is the highest number of the supporters the same question has ever received. In the poll, all majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents voiced together in the support for legal marijuana.
Newsom, however, says that he expects some trouble as California’s new regulatory system would take its time to get running effectively, he said, “This moment presents an opportunity to separate responsible actors from the bad, crack down on cartels and abusers of the environment, and provide law enforcement greater resources and a clearer focus.”