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Hundreds line up for legal pot in Washington state

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, left, shakes hands with clerk Pam Fenstermacher after purchasing marijuana at Cannabis City, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Seattle, on the first day that sales of recreational pot became legal in the state. Washington on Tuesday became the second state to allow people to buy marijuana legally in the U.S. without a doctor's note as eager customers who lined up outside stores made their purchases and savored the moment. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, Pool)
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, left, shakes hands with clerk Pam Fenstermacher after purchasing marijuana at Cannabis City, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Seattle, on the first day that sales of recreational pot became legal in the state. Washington on Tuesday became the second state to allow people to buy marijuana legally in the U.S. without a doctor's note as eager customers who lined up outside stores made their purchases and savored the moment. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, Pool)

By Associated Press 5 min read

SEATTLE (AP) – Surrounded by thousands of packages of marijuana, Seattle’s top prosecutor sought some advice: Which one should he buy?

A new day, indeed.

Twenty months after voters legalized recreational cannabis for adults over 21, Washington state’s first few licensed pot shops opened for business Tuesday, catering to hundreds of customers who lined up outside, thrilled to be part of the historic moment.

The pot being sold at four stores in Seattle, Bellingham, Prosser and Spokane was regulated, tested for impurities, heavily taxed and in short supply – such short supply that several other shops couldn’t open because they had nothing to sell.

Pete Holmes, Seattle’s elected city attorney and a main backer of the state’s recreational marijuana law, said he wanted to be one of the first customers to demonstrate there are alternatives to the nation’s failed drug war.