With Washington residents able to legally obtain both marijuana and alcohol after turning 21, recreational cannabis outlets and supporters encourage the community to become informed on the legal, social and health-associated risks that go along with both substances.

“Half to two-thirds of people that come through my recreational door have some kind of medical issue, usually a pain or sleep issue,” Rob Hendrix, Ellensburg Apothecary owner, said. “We see a fair amount of people in their early 20s. It’s a relatively big demographic, but not the biggest.”

Hendrix received his license to sell marijuana in early 2014 from the state’s liquor control board and opened the Ellensburg Apothecary, a retail marijuana store.

“When I opened this store, I pictured people coming in to buy marijuana to get high, recreationally,” Hendrix said. “It doesn’t get out of control, people aren’t driving crazy or throwing up. Whatever it could be, it’s for a chill party atmosphere. It can range from a little relaxation to the end of an anxiety-filled day.”

Hendrix’s store is currently the only marijuana retail store open in Ellensburg and one of a dozen dispensaries in Kittitas County.

“We encourage people to come to medical apothecaries, especially when trying [marijuana] for the first time, because we know the strength and quality of marijuana products you are getting,” Hendrix said.

Rodeo City Meds is the only Ellensburg medical dispensary in town, which offers a delivery service for marijuana purchases.

“It lessens the chance of having a marijuana-related DUI by having us deliver the marijuana to the comforts of their own home,” an anonymous source from Rodeo City Meds, said. “Business is picking up, but a good majority of people who buy are in their early 20s.”

In Washington, it is legal to purchase up to 16 ounces of marijuana-infused product or 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquid product, but not both at the same time.

In comparison, there is no limit to how much alcohol can be purchased at a time from a state liquor store.

For students like senior Andrew Carey, senior business major and marijuana enthusiast, the legalization of marijuana in Washington has given him the ability to properly educate himself on the different substances.

“In a social setting, people my age buy weed and alcohol for different reasons,” Carey said.

Carey points out that when people buy alcohol, they know the alcohol content because it is stated on the label.

“Most people don’t know that weed can comes in different types. Each different strain gives you a different high for different settings,” Carey said. “Just like each type of alcohol has a different strength and personal effect on you.”

According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, most recreational marijuana use in the United States is by young adults ages 18 to 25.

“I would say the majority of people I know who smoke weed are around my age or in college,” Carey said. “But that doesn’t mean people my age and older adults shouldn’t all be equally excited to be able to just go to the store and get weed, or be able to legally smoke in their home without worry. A lot of places don’t have that kind of freedom. We’re lucky.”

The House of Haze in Ellensburg offers a hookah bar and allows customers of age to openly smoke marijuana inside the vicinity. The House of Haze is the only weed-friendly hookah bar in Kittitas County.

“I remember this place was opening as a hookah bar when I was a freshman and I always thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could all go there or anywhere and smoke without getting in trouble?” Austin Cook, a House of Haze member, said. “I wouldn’t have thought just four years later that people would be able to smoke somewhere besides their home.”

The House of Haze allows adults 21 and older, or holders of a medical marijuana card, to legally engage in marijuana use on the premises but reminds customers that the purchasing or selling of marijuana is prohibited on the property.

Hendrix said that he is pleased that people are going to pot shops for a healthier alternative to prescription drugs.

There’s a need for medical marijuana in the state,” Hendrix said. “We’re talking an economic issue. We’re talking a quality of life issue.”