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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday January 02 2018, @12:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the first-sale-at-4:20 dept.

California launches legal sale of cannabis for recreational use

California will launch the world's largest regulated commercial market for recreational marijuana on Monday, as dozens of newly licensed stores catering to adults who enjoy the drug for its psychoactive effects open for business up and down the state.

It becomes the sixth U.S. state, and by far the most populous, venturing beyond legalized medical marijuana to permit the sale of cannabis products of all types to customers at least 21 years old.

Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada were the first to introduce recreational pot sales on a state-regulated, licensed and taxed basis. Massachusetts and Maine are on track to follow suit later this year.

With California and its 39.5 million residents officially joining the pack, more than one-in-five Americans now live in states where recreational marijuana is legal for purchase, even though cannabis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. law.

The marijuana market in California alone, which boasts the world's sixth-largest economy, is valued by most experts at several billion dollars annually and is expected to generate at least a $1 billion a year in tax revenue.


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  • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Tuesday January 02 2018, @03:17PM (1 child)

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 02 2018, @03:17PM (#616727)

    Just because it's less bad, and worse things are legal, doesn't mean it 'deserves' to be legalized.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday January 02 2018, @04:04PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 02 2018, @04:04PM (#616743) Journal
    Actually, yes, that is a good reason to make them legal. It's consistency. What's going on is that marijuana is illegal because an unpopular minority uses it, not because it "deserves" to be illegal.