SAN DIEGO (AP) – Live music. Free T-shirts. A “Fweedom” celebration with mystery prize boxes worth up to $500, and a shot at a behind-the-scenes tour.
Marijuana legalization arrives Monday in California with lots of hoopla, but only a handful of cities will initially have retail outlets ready to sell recreational pot.
By Thursday afternoon, California had issued only 42 retail licenses. Another 150 applications were pending and regulators planned to work a second straight weekend to review them.
Los Angeles and San Francisco were late to approve local regulations, meaning no recreational pot shops there will open their doors Monday.
The lucky few outlets with licenses – mainly in San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Palm Springs area and Santa Cruz – think they have an edge being first out of the gate.