Marijuana: this holiday season's hot new gift

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Could you have a merry-juana holiday this year and receive a gift of cannabis?

Several medical marijuana dispensaries are applying for recreational licenses, but there are still questions about how marijuana legalization will play out in California.

Adults can legally possess marijuana, but you cannot legally buy the drug unless you have a medical marijuana card.

This has led some people to put weed on their holiday wish list and request to be gifted marijuana.

"It's healthy, wholesome, it's enjoyable, it's good for the holidays, and helps you get through family," said Bloom Room general manager, Stephen Rechif.

San Francisco medical cannabis dispensaries hope to take reefer to retail now that Proposition 64 passed, allowing recreation use. Bloom Room on Jesse Street offers weekend discounts throughout November and December and plans a bigger sales campaign after Thanksgiving.

"We don't do Black Friday. We have Green Friday," said Rechif.

"This year it's a whole week worth of sales."

On Howard Street, The Green Door will sell Thanksgiving gift bags next week and Christmas-themed gift bags will be available the first week of December.

"They're going to be very festive and have lots of different accessories: grinders, lanyards, lighters, and then also cannabis products," said The Green Door chief operations manager Alicia Darrow.

Ray Perkins said he started buying cannabis for himself after a major back surgery to avoid taking narcotics. While shopping at Bloom Room, he says he thinks gifting cannabis is a good idea.

"It's a good gift," said Perkins.

"As a matter of fact, I'd rather give than receive, because I'd rather have you smile."

Dispensaries said the big gift ideas could be portable vaping pens and packaged edibles like chocolate bars, cupcakes, popcorn, and gummy candies.

If you do get a cannabis gift this year, keep in mind some of products will give you the 'munchies'. Dispensaries said the dark purple dried cannabis is more likely to trigger hunger cravings, where the lighter shades do not.

This is a new frontier in gifting, but dispensaries are not expecting huge sale numbers this season.

"In all honesty, I don't think it's going to increase that much, because even though people are allowed to be gifted, there is a limit to what people can possess," said Darrow.

The law says you can have an ounce of dried cannabis or eight grams of concentrate, but to some people, good things come in small packages.