Credit: Fox 17 West Michigan

December 1 marked the first official day of legal recreational marijuana sales in Michigan.

Six businesses in Michigan, including three in Ann Arbor, opened their doors to thousands of eager customers waiting in line to get their hands on various cannabis products. Arbors Wellness, Exclusive Provisioning Centers, and Greenstone are state-licensed dispensaries that opened their doors to the public for legal recreational marijuana use on Sunday. According to The Detroit News, Michigan Supply and Provisions also opened in Morenci. Green Peak Innovations’ Skymint will open next week in Ann Arbor and Lume Cannabis Co.’s Lit Provisioning Centers in Evart is expected to start selling recreational marijuana on Friday.

“I had no idea that it was going to be just insane like this,” one customer waiting in line with his coffee told Fox 47.

The love of cannabis inspired some people to drive for hours to Ann Arbor to stand in the cold and rain for more than two hours while they waited for their turn to head into the dispensary.

“It was really cold. My feet were really, really wet. I’m still wearing the same clothes that we went out in yesterday. I slept three hours and then we decided to come out here,” said one customer, Ali.

Exclusive Provisioning Centers has made it a point to have their doors be one of the first to open for the sale of recreational marijuana for months now. But the turnout exceeded both the owner’s and employees’ already high expectations.

“I don’t think we could have prepared enough, we definitely did our best,” said Exclusive Provisioning Centers CEO Omar Hishmeh. “We didn’t know what to expect. I definitely thought it was going to be a positive outcome, a good turnout, especially here in Ann Arbor. I didn’t know the line was going to be three blocks long.”

Hishmeh also mentioned that medical marijuana users got VIP treatment and were able to skip to the front of the line past thousands of people.

“In 50 years, everybody is going to look back at this and say that it was ridiculous that this was illegal in the first place,” said Ali.

As we progress into 2020, more dispensaries in different cities throughout Michigan will become state-licensed and be able to offer recreational marijuana.

In terms of dispensaries in the Detroit metro area (Michigan’s most populated region), many are waiting for the green light from state licensing facilities to give their clearance. In the meantime, Ann Arbor is taking the bull by the horns and taking advantage of this opportunity to capitalize on recreational cannabis.