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Pot Sales Begin (Legally) in Washington State

Pot sales began legally in Washington State on Tuesday, with a select number of stores selling a limited amount of cannabis.
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SEATTLE — Pot for recreational use was sold legally in the state of Washington for the first time on Tuesday when Top Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham, about 90 miles north of Seattle, sold marijuana to three customers from Kansas. Meantime, buyers outside the main outlet in Seattle, Cannabis City, were biding their time until noon for their purchases.

C.J. Graham, 22, sat on a purple folding chair reading a Kindle, while Kyle Hyatt, 53, was looking at pictures on his phone as he waited in line. "My wife thinks I'm crazy for being out here," said Hyatt, who is visiting from Los Angeles. "But when I heard about the opening, I knew I had to come." Both men are recreational marijuana users and view the legalization of pot in Washington as a "win-win" situation. "It makes it a less shady situation," says Graham, a recent college grad. "I don't have to feel like I'm sneaking around doing something society sees as bad anymore."

Washington State is the second state to permit the sale of recreational pot, following Colorado.

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— Aarne Heikkila