SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California Monday and dispensaries across San Diego county are getting ready for a surge of new customers.
Anyone 21 years or older can legally buy recreational marijuana from licensed dispensaries.
The City of San Diego has approved 9 stores to sell pot and its related products.
However some cities like National City, Santee, Poway and San Marcos have banned the sale of it outright.
Selling marijuana is still illegal at the federal level which makes banking access difficult for dispensaries.
Customers are generally required to pay in cash and due to the influx of bills at dispensaries, San Diego mandates armed guards at them.
Dispensaries like Apothekare in Mission Valley sell a variety of THC-infused products but will soon no longer be able to sell brightly-colored packaged edible products because of the new laws.
“You can’t have gummy bears, you can’t have anything that attracts children,” said owner Rakesh Goyal ”any of the shapes that are children friendly and any of the packaging that’s children friendly has to change.”
Goyal says he and other dispensary owners are grateful to be on the edge of boom expected to bring in billons this year.
“It’s so hard to get to this point,” added Goyal, “getting the licenses and these business to be compliant costs a lot of money and you don’t want to jeopardize it.”
