Legal marijuana sales in Colorado begin Jan. 1

Video by Associated Press

Two dozen state-licensed marijuana retailers across Colorado will be open for the state’s first day of legal recreational pot sales on Jan. 1, 2014 the Associated Press reports.

Per Colorado state law, adults 21 and older will be allowed to buy up to an ounce of pot each, the Sacramento Bee reports. And 400 applications await approval for retail marijuana shops.

Colorado and Washington passed referendums in 2012 that legalized recreational sales of the drug. Washington is expected to start selling recreational pot later in 2014. Earlier this year, a Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans — 58 percent — support legalizing marijuana.

The Department of Justice has said that it won’t interfere with state marijuana laws, the AP reports, as long as both states comply with an eight-point standard that keeps pot away from criminal cartels and children. Businesses are not allowed to advertise their pot shops where children are likely to see them.

Come New Year’s Day, lawmakers and pot advocates alike will see — and smell — whether a statewide pot industry can be sustained.