Weed is legal in California. But this is why you still can’t buy it in Merced County.

The time has come in California for adults who want to consume cannabis for fun, but, if you live in Merced County, you're in for a long drive to pick up your pot brownies or an ounce of purple kush.

Any adults in the county can grow up to six plants indoors and are free for smoke or eat it there, but no sanctioned dispensaries exist in the county. And, the city of Merced is the only jurisdiction in the county that currently has plans to allow for dispensaries.

The Merced City Council has agreed to allow four dispensaries to sprout up in designated areas around town, as well as other cannabis-based business. Those are likely months away from opening, according to city leaders.

First-day sales were brisk in California shops lucky enough to score one of the roughly 100 state licenses issued so far. But would-be customers in some of the state’s largest cities encountered reefer sadness. Fresno and Riverside outlawed sales and Los Angeles and San Francisco did not act soon enough to authorize shops to get state licenses by New Year’s Day.

Atwater, too, approved certain marijuana-based manufacturing, testing and other businesses, but has put the kibosh on dispensaries. Other cities in the county have discussed loosening their ban on cannabis business as a way to drive of tax revenue, but, as is common across the central San Joaquin Valley, dispensaries have drawn the most opposition.

The unincorporated parts of Merced County are also not allowed to be home to marijuana business.

It could be another six months before Merced realistically has a dispensary, according to Scott McBride, the city's director of development services. The City Council this week began looking at a merit-based system for awarding a dispensary permit.

Beyond that, there's a process for background checks, public hearings and other routine measures. McBride said because the city plans to allow a limited number of dispensaries, it has to be clear and fair about awarding its permits for dispensaries.

"I don't expect that we're going to start taking applications probably until April," McBride said. "We're probably not going to award anything until late May, early June. Maybe even into July."

Other cities in the county have banned all marijuana businesses, but could revise their ordinances. In Dos Palos, for example, City Manager Darrell Fonseca said the City Council expects to review its policy later in the year.

"Right now, they're looking at how larger cities, like Merced, are handling it," he said.

Recreational weed sellers are set up around the Bay Area and in Sacramento, so Merced-area residents can expect a roughly two-hour drive to a licensed dispensary. Another dispensary is planned to open in February in southern Fresno County, but it's not much closer to Merced.

Dispensaries in Ceres and Riverbank, which are closer to Merced County, are also further along in the process to opening.

Bureau of Cannabis Control regulators worked through the holiday to try to process 1,400 pending license applications for retail sales, distribution, testing facilities and other businesses, bureau spokesman Alex Traverso said.

A flood of applications for shops in Los Angeles and San Francisco is expected after being approved locally. Because Los Angeles is the biggest market in the state, some of those shops will be licensed by the state more quickly than others already in line, Traverso said.

Proposition 64, approved by California voters in November last year, legalized the possession and recreational use of marijuana. It also legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use starting Jan. 1 – but gave cities and counties the authority to regulate or prohibit commercial cannabis operations in their jurisdictions.

Merced County voters approved Prop 64 with 54 percent approval.

In shops where recreational weed was on the menu, former medical marijuana patients got in line with pot-heads and hippies, as well as first-timers willing to give legal weed a chance.

Heather Sposeto, 50, who is not a marijuana user, wanted to see the hype around legal weed, so she went to Northstar Holistic Collective in Sacramento with her boyfriend, who is a daily pot smoker.

She said it felt surreal to be in a shop with options ranging from chocolate edibles to the green flower. Sposeto was considering taking a toke now that it’s not illicit.

“I come from the era where it was super illegal,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 2, 2018 at 6:54 PM with the headline "Weed is legal in California. But this is why you still can’t buy it in Merced County.."