Los Angeles won’t be selling recreational pot on New Year’s Day

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on December 26, 2017.

Even as California will kick off the recreational marijuana sales from January 1, shops in Los Angeles will not be part of the celebration on New Year’s Day.

“Come Jan. 1 in the city of Los Angeles, there are no legal, adult-use sales,” Cat Packer, who heads the city’s Department of Cannabis Regulation, told reporters at City Hall.

“We are starting a process. This is something that is not going to happen overnight,” Packer said.

Los Angeles will only be accepting applications to sell legal recreational pot from January 3 onwards. It would further take weeks before the City has a properly licensed recreational pot business. The business houses need approval from both local and state authorities to sell recreational cannabis to adult customers.

Around 200 businesses are estimated to fit the bill and get a temporary license from local authorities within three weeks. However, license from the state authorities will also be needed to start running recreational pot shops.

“A lot of the businesses are disappointed because they aren’t going to be able to participate on the first day,” said Aaron Lachant, an attorney representing a few of the existing marijuana shops.

California will allow people only 21 and above to legally possess up to an ounce of the drug and grow six plants at home. Medical marijuana in the state has been legal for the last two decades.

The process of legalization of recreational pot began last year when California voters approved Proposition 64, which allows recreational pot sales to adults.

Los Angeles is California’s largest cannabis market, but the city has struggled to fix rules for licensing businesses. In March, 80 percent of voters had endorsed for a creation of the new pot marketplace.

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