Recreational marijuana dispensaries throughout Maryland opened their doors to curious and excited customers for the first time Saturday, many of whom said it was about time they could buy legal cannabis.
Milton Sorrel lined up about an hour before the RISE Dispensary in Silver Spring opened and told WTOP his wait was much longer than just that morning.
“Had to wait a long time,” Sorrel said. “When the laws got passed in D.C. I thought ‘oh it is going to get here anytime now.’ But it took until 2023 to have it.”
And though both D.C. and Virginia have allowed recreational use for much longer, Maryland is the first state that has also approved a retail market of legal dispensaries. D.C. relies on medicinal shops and legally gray “gifting” sellers. Virginia has not approved a plan for sellers.
“Maryland’s done a great job telegraphing and communicating a safe, regulated program for the operator,” said Ben Kohler, founder and CEO of RISE Dispensaries.
“Everything’s tested and regulated because these people are using them at home. So we avoid the problems in places like New York, where you have untested, unregulated illegal stores. This is a regulated program and well done,” he said about the strict testing for all his locally grown and manufactured products.
He and his staff cut the ribbon on recreational sales at their Silver Spring location ten minutes before letting customers place orders at 8 a.m.
About a dozen or so customers got there early and waited in line, but most customers trickled in and out throughout the morning.
“Couldn’t sleep this morning. So I just figured I’d come out instead of tossing around in bed,” the first recreational customer at RISE told WTOP. “Just come over here and get it over with. I’m sure I’ll sleep good later today.”
For RISE Dispensaries and most of the 100 or so other dispensaries in Maryland, cash and debit cards are the payment options and customers must bring an I.D. The dispensaries verify that customers are at least 21 before letting them into in the store.
Under Maryland Law, customers can buy 1.5 ounces of marijuana or 750 milligrams of vape cartridges, gummies and edibles at one time.
Owners at RISE expect to double their sales from when they were medicinal only.
