The Big Read: Dopeless in Seattle

A broad smile spreads across the face of shopkeeper James Lathrop as he surveys his shiny new store, for he knows he's about to become the most popular man in Seattle.

Yesterday Washington state became the second in the US, after Colorado, to allow the sale of cannabis for recreational use.

And for the 635 000 residents of its biggest city there will be only one place to buy it. That's Lathrop's "Cannabis City", which was expected to be swamped.

Lathrop, 44, a former US Army nurse, who served in Operation Desert Storm, is the only cannabis entrepreneur in the home of grunge who managed to negotiate a labyrinthine licensing system in time for the big day.

"It is exciting to be the only one, but also overwhelming," he said. "There's going to be a big line outside. We're going to have to try to make this like McDonald's, as efficient as possible, so people are in and out, boom, boom, boom.

"We've only got 5kg of marijuana though and we expect it all to go quickly on the first day."

In November 2012 voters in Washington and Colorado chose to legalise cannabis and tax its sale, allowing people over 21 to buy up to an ounce (30g).

At the time users in Seattle celebrated by lighting up under the Space Needle.

But since then Washington has been left behind in the race to become America's most pot-friendly state.

Colorado opened its first shops at the start of the year but in Washington there has been delay after delay. And now, as opening day finally approached, there wasn't nearly enough cannabis to satisfy demand.

Of more than 2 600 businesses that applied for permission to grow cannabis plants, fewer than 100 have so far been given licences.

One of the few approved growers Bob Leeds, 70, of Sea of Green Farms, said: "There's clearly going to be a big shortage.

"Here, we have about 29kg of marijuana ready to go, but all of it is spoken for."

An unlikely cannabis entrepreneur, Leeds spent most of his career working in a bank and had never seen a cannabis plant until 18 months ago.

He now develops strains with names like Sleestack, Beaver Dawg, Spacebomb and Dutch Hawaiian, at a former call centre he bought for $2-million (about R22-million) and turned into a cannabis factory.

He doesn't smoke the drug himself but has discovered that a cannabis-infused tincture helps with the arthritis in his shoulders.

"I never thought I'd have 5 000 marijuana plants, but I came out of retirement for this and it's fun."

Even for Leeds, with his extensive business experience, getting a cannabis licence in Washington was a challenge. It took him more than 50 hours to fill out a 45-page application document. Each of his plants has to be fitted with four different bar codes and a plethora of labels.

Some who invested millions of dollars in growing facilities that still lie idle are now believed to be considering suing the state, accusing it of strangling the emerging industry with red tape.

Douglas Taylor, 43, a would-be grower, spent $250 000 on property to turn into a cannabis farm but is yet to nurture a single plant.

He said: "It's been a total mess. I've been hanging in limbo for months. I've now missed the outdoor grow season so that's a loss of another $500 000."

He said the shortage would contribute to high prices at stores, which in turn would send people to the black market instead.

The prices at stores are expected to be twice those on the street.

In 2012 Washington predicted the cannabis industry could bring in $1.9-billion in tax revenue over five years. That estimate has now been cut dramatically to $586- million over four years.

But in Colorado the initial estimate of how much recreational cannabis will be sold in 2014/15 doubled to $612-million with tax revenue of $117.8-million.

Would-be shop owners in Washington expressed frustration about having to take part in a state lottery in May to win the chance of applying for one of 334 retail licences.

Some winners were then disqualified for not meeting regulations, such as not being further than 300m away from a school, childcare centre or park.

Lathrop, who was one of the lottery winners, said he has already spent tens of thousands of dollars meeting various regulations, including installing 11 security cameras.

"It was a very expensive lottery to win," he said.

But Brian Smith, a spokesman for Washington's Liquor Control Board, which has been overseeing the process, said: "We are not going to apologise for tight regulations and controls. That's the intention of the system.

"If you step back and remember this is still an illegal drug at the federal level and the department of justice is very clear this has to be done under a tightly regulated system. If people in other states want to see systems like Colorado and Washington's come to their states they have to accept that."

He denied that not enough cannabis was being grown, saying: "There's enough canopy to fill 10 or 11 football fields. There's a lot out there, not all of it's been harvested yet.

"I think a lot of people are coming into this from an environment where they're not used to tight regulation.

"This is a rolling roll-out. A lot of people aren't ready and we are going to continue to issue more and more licences.

"It's an emerging market and it's going to be a very robust market."