San Diego Dispensary The First In California To Get License For Retail Sales Of Marijuana For Recreational Use

by Mike Cooch

San Diego earned a new ‘first’ in the state of California this month – we became the first city to get a license for the sale of marijuana for recreational use!

Torrey Holistics dispensary in Sorrento Valley became the first business in California to earn the distinction.

Recreational sales begin January 1st, and we can expect a total of 11-17 total licensed dispensaries in the San Diego area by the time we hit the new year. The state doesn’t seem to be wasting any time making the licenses available now that the new recreational sales laws are about to take effect.

What to expect come January 1st?

I’m sure many San Diegans are wondering what to expect once these new laws are in effect. Will marijuana use be as common as drinking beer? Will marijuana be our new ‘craft beer’ industry in San Diego?

Based on my experience living in Colorado, the answers are ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’.

The reality is that marijuana use is already much, much more common than many people like to acknowledge or admit to. Your lawyer, a marijuana user? Yes. Financial planner? Yes. Doctor? Teacher? Neighbor? Yes, yes, and yes. Marijuana use is common across all professions, income levels, and communities.

According to an article in the San Diego Tribune, a recent study by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center predicts that legal recreational use will soon be 61.5% of the overall market in California, illegal sales will be 29.5%, and medicinal purchases will be 9%.

That’s a LOT of people buying marijuana for recreational use!

It’s like getting a coffee at Starbucks…only different

That’s the best way to explain what it felt like to me the first time I bought marijuana at a legal shop in Denver (I’m a very occasional recreational user). The environment was a very nice, clean retail environment. Most of the people there looked like Downtown Denver professionals, not the criminals some people may be envisioning will swarm these shops. And I had a variety of interesting options to choose from by staff that was clearly educated on marijuana.

It was like getting a coffee at Starbucks…only different.

The New Normal

As the image above from the Torrey Holistics website just about says it all. Pretty soon, legal marijuana sales will seem totally normal, and the revenue generated by taxes associated with recreational sales will be nearly impossible for the state to give up.

The Prohibition is indeed over!