New era opens in California with first sales of recreational marijuana
Before sunrise on New Year’s Day, cashiers welcomed the first legal sales of recreational marijuana in California, launching a new industry expected to bring in billions of dollars while accepting new regulations and taxes.
The day has been long anticipated by cannabis advocates who pushed for voters to pass Proposition 64 in November 2016, largely decriminalizing marijuana and allowing — starting Monday — for the commercial sale of products to adults 21 or older.
In Berkeley, Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Assemblywomen Nancy Skinner joined a couple dozen people outside the Berkeley Patients Group for the first sales.
The first sale happened at 6 a.m.