Buying pot on New Year's Day? Santa Ana is L.A.'s closest option

Buying pot on New Year’s Day? Santa Ana is L.A.’s closest option

MedMen, a marijuana shop in Santa Ana, is one of several retailers licensed to begin recreational cannabis sales on New Year's Day.

Dec. 31, 2017 2:10 PM PT

Looking to buy cannabis on New Year’s Day without a medical marijuana card? Head to Santa Ana.

Seven cannabis dispensaries there will be able to start selling pot to California adults Monday morning — and they’ll be the only such shops open for business in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Permits for those shops were issued over the weekend as state and local officials, and cannabis business owners, sprint toward the opening of California’s legal cannabis market.

As of Friday afternoon, the state had issued 47 permits for recreational marijuana retailers, and two shops in West Hollywood were the only ones in Greater Los Angeles. Those shops, plus a third West Hollywood dispensary licensed over the weekend, won’t open until Tuesday.

That makes Santa Ana the only New Year’s Day option, unless buyers are willing to trek to San Diego or the Palm Springs area, where several shops are licensed to begin recreational sales on Monday.

Recreational marijuana becomes legal in California on Jan. 1. The first round of state licenses for marijuana businesses kick into effect in January. Here’s a guide to everything you need to know.

To get state permits, recreational marijuana companies — including retailers, testing labs, growers and distributors — must first get local licenses. Because many cities, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, have not started issuing permits of their own, there are no state-licensed recreational pot shops in those cities.

The Santa Ana dispensaries licensed to make recreational sales starting Monday morning are: