New Jersey launches recreational marijuana sales following voter approval

Well over a year after voters said yes to legal weed, New Jersey is finally about to start getting high on its own supply.

State residents 21 and older can lawfully buy marijuana starting on Thursday, after a decade-long effort by advocates to legalize recreational use and end years of racially unbalanced criminal prosecution.

Dispensaries are expecting big crowds on Thursday, a day after the unofficial marijuana holiday known as 4/20. In Paterson and Bloomfield, dispensaries operated by Green Thumb Industries will open at 6 a.m., Chief Executive Ben Kovler said.

"We see it as the end of Prohibition 2.0," he said.