“An important day and beginning of a new chapter for the citizens of the city of Vancouver and state of Washington,” said Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt in a Facebook post. “By 54 percent, the voters in our city approved of the recreational use of marijuana. Your city council chose to abide by the wishes of our voters for the opportunity to legally purchase.”
A second pot store in Vancouver – New Vansterdam (6515 E. Mill Plain Blvd.) – received its licenses this week and plans to open at 8 a.m. on Friday. Other cities in Southwest Washington have moratoriums in place prohibiting retail sales of marijuana.
The supply of marijuana has been expected to be extremely limited at first, and much of the pot being sold Tuesday cost at least twice the rate offered by the state’s unregulated medical dispensaries.
Washington is the second state to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use. Voters in Colorado legalized it in 2012.
