On Monday, recreational marijuana will be legally available to purchase from licensed businesses across California.
The drug will also be allowed for legal growing and selling.
Law enforcement is not as excited as some though.
The state Bureau of Cannabis Control, which was recently created and licenses retail outlets, has said it has hired several officers to help crack down on unlicensed shops.
More will be hired in the future.
“We are a pretty small operation,” bureau spokesman Alex Traverso said. On January 1st there will be around eight enforcement officers in place.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman has shown concern by saying, “Please do not continue to say that marijuana is a totally harmless herb that God put on this Earth, and we don’t know why we’re fighting over it.”
In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said he believes legalization will be “eye-opening for a lot of people.”
“The public’s perception is that weed is innocuous, that this is something they did 40 years ago and it is no big deal,” he remarked. “Well, today’s marijuana is not yesterday’s marijuana. The active ingredient, THC, is so much higher today than back 40 years ago.”
