MISSOULA — The first legal day of recreational adult use of marijuana has had dispensaries across Missoula busier than ever.
The Higher Standard and Puffin dispensary are two downtown Missoula shops that made the switch to selling recreational marijuana in addition to medical marijuana.
Opening early on the first day of legal use, they say they were busier than ever.
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“It’s been going amazing," said Matty Coen with The Higher Standard. "We had people coming in right off the bat. We opened half an hour early even and people just started flowing in."
Most stores expected to have a huge turnout on Saturday.
“We were kind of expecting this," Berlyn Geisler with Puffin Canna told MTN News. "It's been a great turnout. We've had people from all over coming in.”
Bradley Marboe — a medical marijuana cardholder for a little over a year who works at Puffin — says that the recreational use of marijuana is an opportunity to help others.
“I think it's great that it's going back because it's just opening the door to more people, you know, who before maybe didn't want to be an assistant, which is totally fair. You know, people don't want their name associated or linked to any of this which there is still the negative stigma towards cannabis in general. But that's what's fun about being in the industry and being in a state like Montana. Now that's recreational wise, it's a chance to disprove all the negative.” - Bradley Marboe
Both dispensaries say their next hurdle to overcome is supply and demand, as they anticipate the next couple of days to be just as busy.
