Driving down highway 99 in Seattle is simply surreal now with all the marijuana dispensaries. Most of them are identifiable by the green cross that is often incorporated into their signage. They’re often adjacent to smoke shops, with just the barest effort put toward maintaining the flimsy pretense of having a medical purpose.
And let's not forget all the titty coffee stands.
As far as the new recreational weed law goes there still isn't a legal supply and smoking weed in public isn't legal. When the law took effect a bunch of dopers went down to the Space Needle to light up and the police stood by and did nothing.
The supporters of the proposition wrote a law they thought would pass, but with no expectation of anything other than being allowed to walk with personal use weed. While, obviously, Seattle officials won't support enforcement of the provisions of that law, they will act when they figure out they are losing revenue.
Look at a different product, booze. The state has a long tradition of confiscatory tax rates on alcohol, despite shifting that business to retail stores last year. The rates under the new retail sales are high enough that sales have been flat while availability has increased. Now if I fired up a still, without a license and started selling my product the liquor control board would be all over me in a heartbeat. Somehow weed smokers are a different class.