With the passage of Proposition 64, investors are hoping to cash in and take advantage of California's growing marijuana industry.
Hundreds of investors looking to cash in on the state's growing marijuana industry traveled to West Hollywood on Monday to tour MedMen, a West Hollywood dispensary.
The dispensary refers to itself as the "Whole Foods of Cannabis" and its goal is to normalize marijuana now that the industry no longer needs to hide.
"We want people to feel like they can explore and really take their time looking at all our products," said Jocelyn Pettway, director of facility design. "It's really just like any other store."
MedMen told NBC4 they expect California's cannabis industry to more than double to $8 billion in the next few years and investors are seeing potential with legalization.
Lori Ferrara is one of those investors.
Investing in marijuana got personal for Ferrara after she and her husband both got sick and she became a medical marijuana patient.
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"It's a little less scary," Ferrara said. "Before, there were raids going on."
But now, there's no sense of operating in the shadows.
"California is huge. There's a lot of money to be made in California," Ferrara said.
MedMen CEO Adam Bierman described the newfound interest in the marijuana industry as the "end of a prohibition."
With many local restrictions still in place, no one expects stores like MedMen to proliferate in the next few years, but investors like Ferrara seem convinced California will change for the better.
"I've seen a lot with marijuana and the benefits far outweigh the negatives," she said. "And if we all come together, it's going to help a lot of people."
MedMen and other dispensaries can still only sell medical marijuana. Retail sales of recreational marijuana won't be legal until 2018.
