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Thousands participate in first day of recreational marijuana sales

Posted at 5:55 AM, Dec 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-02 06:40:40-05

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On the first day of recreational marijuana retail in Michigan, thousands lined up at Exclusive Dispensary in Ann Arbor. Exclusive is one of only six licensed to sell on December 1st.

Customers lined up as early at 9:45 p.m. the day before, driving hours and braving the cold and rain. One customer was Alex, who waited in line for more than three hours.

"It is very cold yeah and I did not dress well, but you know it's okay. It's totally still worth it," said Alex.

Ali, also wanted to be one of the first to buy legal recreational marijuana in Michigan so he waited in line and lost sleep just to do it.

"It was really cold. My feet were really wet. I'm still wearing the same clothes that we went out in yesterday. So I slept 3 hours and then we decided to come out here," said Ali.

CEO Omar Hishmeh said they prepared as much as possible, but the number of customers that showed up exceeded their high expectations.

"I don't think we could’ve prepared enough definitely did our best we didn’t know what to expect. We thought it was going to be a positive outcome, turnout especially here in Ann Arbor. I didn't know the line was going to be three blocks long," said Hishmeh.

Municipalities could choose whether to opt out of recreational marijuana businesses or not. More than 1,400 already have, including many in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties.

The City of Lansing and East Lansing will allow them, however, it's not clear when.

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