New year brings broad pot legalization to California

In this Dec. 29, 2017, photo, Khalil Moutawakkil, co-founder and CEO of KindPeoples, a marijuana dispensary, looks at different marijuana plants on display in his store in Santa Cruz, Calif. Californians may awake on New Year's Day to a stronger-than-normal whiff of marijuana as America's cannabis king lights up to celebrate the state's first legal retail pot sales.Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

LOS ANGELES — The arrival of the new year in California brings with it broad legalization of marijuana.

The law comes two decades after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana.

So-called recreational pot is now legal for adults 21 and older. Individuals can grow up to six plants and possess as much as an ounce.

Finding a retail outlet to buy non-medical pot in California won’t be easy, at least initially. Only about 90 businesses received state licenses to open on New Year’s Day. They are concentrated in San Diego, Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Palm Springs area.

Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the many cities where recreational pot won’t be available right away. Other places, including Fresno, Bakersfield and Kern County, outlawed recreational marijuana sales.