The state of Washington on Monday began the limited distribution of the first licenses for legal marijuana sales, 20 months after voters approved the legalization of pot.
Voters in the states of Washington and Colorado turned out for plebiscites in November 2012 and approved the legalization of marijuana purchase and use for adults over 21 and the creation of state-licensed systems for growing, selling and taxing the pot.
Legal pot sales began in Colorado on Jan. 1.
On the first day licenses to legally sell pot were issued in Washington, just 20 shops received a license, which allows them to begin selling marijuana legally 24 hours later.
The regulations adopted by the local government allow up to 334 stores statewide to sell marijuana.
The city of Seattle, which with its 652,000 residents is the largest urban area in the state, will only have one pot store for now, but Vancouver, with just one-quarter of the larger city's population, will be allowed to have up to three. EFE