Green Tuesdays: Crowds queuing at East Coast draft shops

LEICESTER, Mass. – People lined up in the rain on Tuesday morning to be among the first customers of the first two legal pot shops on the east coast of the United States, more than two years after the approval of Massachusetts voters marijuana for recreational purposes for adults.

The first commercial pot shops in this state opened in Leicester and Northampton.

Items on sale in modern and spacious stores include various strains of the smokable plant part, pre-rolled joints and edible products such as brownies and chocolate bars.

Cannabis is legally sold in six western states.

The first client of the Leicester store was Stephen Mandile, a war veteran from Iraq who was using medical marijuana to treat his post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and chronic pain.

Customers were driven to Cultivate, the Leicester store, from a remote parking area located about one kilometer away, while police maintained a visible but unobtrusive presence on the outside. Customers looked at the offers kept behind the counters and under the glass.

Kenny Boisvert, a 33-year-old resident of Blackstone, was pleasantly surprised by his shopping experience.

"It is a very beautiful place. That's a lot more than I expected, "he said while waiting to pick up edible products and the part of the plant that could be smoked.

The deployment of legal pot sales has been slow in Massachusetts as regulators said they wanted to make sure everything went well without some of the supply problems faced by other states.

Both stores received final regulatory approval to open last Friday, but had to wait three days to coordinate traffic and other concerns.

Several other stores could open in the coming months.

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