EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – People came out in the thousands today as legal marijuana purchases started today. People started waiting in line in the early morning hours to be able to make their first recreational purchase.
One consumer, Alex Carri, says that its important for states surrounding Texas to make it legal since it is still criminalized in the lone star state.
“Seeing neighboring states being recreational to Texas which has been very much against recreational cannabis so for me it’s been very exciting I have a lot of friends that have been excited and the strangers that I met outside are excited too.”
Over at Pecos Valley Productions they have been preparing for this day for months and that they will have everything they need for the customers arrival according to Dispensary Compliance Manager Kayla Wolfe.
“We have plenty of stock, so we haven’t been too concerned about that it’s just figuring out, accommodating our medical patients along with all the new recreational.”
Today does mean more than legal purchases, according to the Duke Rodriguez, CEO of Ultra Health Dispensary, this means cannabis is no longer criminalized which could mean less people behind bars
“Yes it’s a great economic boom, and certainly were very proud of that and as a company were very excited for that but the real promise respect and admiration is the social justice value of legalization.”
Echoing what Rodriguez believes, Daniel Martinez says this is a dream come true for him due to his history with law enforcement.
“I come from a background, I used to get arrested for weed all the time when I was young that really ruined my life like it took me hard to get jobs and stuff so now it’s better it’s like a dream come true being so close.”
If the lines fail to convince you just how popular the legalization of pot is in The Land of Enchanment, Rodriguez says that his store is seeing sales over $1,000,000,000.
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