ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The first day of recreational marijuana sales brought hundreds of people to Ann Arbor, where three shops secured licenses and were ready for business Sunday.
Beginning early Sunday morning, hundreds of people formed lines around the city, most were waiting several hours before they could get their chance to buy.
"Everyone’s just excited, you know this is what we all went out and voted for, this is what we come out for," Amanda Amore said. "I really think it’s amazing, we’ve come a long way, since you know putting people in jail for what people now stand in line for three hours for."
Despite the cold and long wait, spirits remained high.
Arbors Wellness made the first legal sale in state history.
"It's been a constant line around the block, happy faces, a lot of people never had the chance to legally purchase weed, so this is something new. We are making history today," Arbors Wellness Team Leader Patrick Shepard said.
Folks traveled from across the Midwest to take part in the landmark day for legalization.
"It's the way it should have always been. I feel God put this seed on the planet for a reason," Kalamazoo Resident Patricia Timmerman said. "It’s so exciting, we stood in line for over three hours, everybody was so gracious, happy its legal, 12/1 is the new 4/20."
Marijuana shop Exclusive Brands served nearly a thousand customers on Sunday.
"We’ve been planning on this for months and months, we looked at other markets that were opening up direct and guided it off of that. There’s a lot of preparation that went into place," Exclusive Brands General Manager Nick Warra said.
The company gave us an inside look at their operation, which includes growing, processing and selling the plant.
"In the last year we created more than 100 jobs at Exclusive Brand and we plan on hiring a lot more people in the coming year," Warra explained. "It's been an awesome experience."
In addition to the 6 percent sales tax, the state is also implementing a 10 percent excise tax on all products sold.
Police also remind people that like alcohol, you should not drive when you're high.
