After almost a year of researching marijuana and how to go about selling it legally, Washington state adopted rules yesterday for the recreational sale of pot, and everyone is watching. Well, everyone who’s interested in how to go about doing something similar in their home state or country.

Countries like Mexico, Uruguay, Poland and other locales are checking out the regulations, reports the Associated Press, which cover things like how big licensed marijuana gardens can be, security at those gardens, hoe many pot stores can open in the state and more.

Oh yes, and then there’s also a new high… TAX that is. Puns! Ahem. Anyway, Washington will tax pot highly and only allow for 90 metric tons to be produced in the state. Sales are expected to start by the middle of 2014.

The state’s liquor board members said the goal was to make pot accessible enough so that people will choose the legal stuff over the black market, but not so easy to get that it would threaten public health or safety. A state of stoners would be undesirable, in other words.

As such, the state’s new regulations require procedures like seed-to-store tracking, background checks for license applicants, and child-resistant packaging.

“We feel very proud of what we’re doing,” said Sharon Foster, chairwoman of the Washington Liquor Control Board, as she and her two colleagues approved the rules. “We are making history.”

Washington state approves rules for pot industry [Associated Press]

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