BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — The legal sale of recreational marijuana has begun in Washington state.

The first purchase at Top Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham was two grams of pot for $26.50.

Before the store opened at 8 a.m., several dozen people were lined up outside.

In Seattle, hundreds of people waited outside the city’s first pot shop, Cannabis City, which opened at noon.

As he cut a ribbon for the official opening, store owner James Lathrop said it was time to “free the weed.”

Washington is the second state after Colorado to allow people to buy marijuana legally without a doctor’s note.

An Associated Press survey of the 24 licensees showed only about six planned to open Tuesday. Others said it could be a month or more before they could acquire marijuana to sell.

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