A voter-approved law allowing adults to possess, grow and use limited amounts of recreational marijuana has now taken effect in Massachusetts, but it will still be at least another year before the state issues retail licenses to sell the drug. For now, that leaves recreational users with little choice but to buy it from illegal dealers.

The ballot measure passed last month by a margin of more than 240,000 votes out of nearly 3.8 million total votes cast.

Here’s a look at the new law, including what’s legal and what’s not.

Outside a Sonoma County Fairgrounds exhibition hall last weekend, hordes of happy pot lovers walked around the Emerald Cup harvest festival, already stoned or about to be.

Inside the hall, a panel of entirely sober government officials discussed the ramifications of marijuana legalization, California’s complex and evolving regulatory structure, and tried to answer questions about the future of the cannabis industry that seem, at this point, unanswerable.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  With recreational marijuana now legal in eight states, a serious health and safety question about the potency of the psychoactive drug in cannabis, known as THC, are emerging.  In Colorado, some marijuana products contain 90 percent pure THC, with little research documenting the physical and mental effects on consumers.

This week, the state’s health department announced more than $2 million in grants to study the impacts on driving and cognitive functioning.

As John Ferrugia of Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver reports, there are concerns that the effects on some users could be deadly.

MARC BULLARD:  2016 is a year of something new.

Say what you will about his methods, but Canada’s self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot” knows how to make an entrance.

Throngs of admirers stood in the snow Thursday and cheered Marc Emery on as he rolled up to the opening of an illegal marijuana dispensary on Mont-Royal Ave. He held court in the shop for half an hour as he made an impassioned case for the legalization of pot — leaning on logic-based arguments honed over a career of marijuana advocacy.

Then he reached into a jar full of weed nuggets, held one up for the crowd to see and shouted “Who wants a free nug?” The audience hollered in approval.

Yes, the unveiling of an illegal dispensary actually ended in a massive weed giveaway.

About a year ago, I visited Seattle to see how pot legalization was going. Not well, as it turned out.

A few years earlier, Washington State became one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to vote in favour of legalizing and regulating the sale of marijuana for recreational use. In 2014, the system designed to manage the commercialization process was operational – and it didn’t take long for some early grumbling to become a nascent revolt.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is keeping an open mind about what — if any — role the Liquor Control Board of Ontario will have in the recreational marijuana business.

In her first public statement since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal task force on legalization released its recommendations Tuesday, Wynne was noncommittal when asked about the LCBO’s involvement in cannabis sales.

Rastafari Inity, promoters of Rastafari Rootz Fest, Jamaica’s first ganja-exempt event, has indicated that next year, the third staging of the festival could be shifted from December to November.

The move is geared towards avoiding a clash with an established ganja event held annually in California. 

What if using cannabis for the first time was as easy as making a cup of coffee?

This is the philosophy behind CannaCloud, the industry’s first pod-based cannabis vaporizing system by CannaKorp that works just like a Keurig coffee machine.

Users simply load the CannaCloud with small aluminum “CannaCloud Pods” filled with pre-ground, lab-tested strains. The machine then heats up the herb to vaporizing temperature with the press of a button, and users wait about 60 seconds until the display screen indicates they can take a hit. After use, the Pods can be tossed into the recycle bin.

Legalizing pot is just the 1st step before the more complex task of regulating its use and sale.

Legislation to make pot legal will hit the House of Commons come spring, but the day when recreational marijuana becomes officially available to buy across the country could still be years away. 

"I think one of the things we were struck by was how complex this transition actually is, and not only in terms of drafting legislation at the federal and provincial levels and putting in place all the infrastructure and training, but the psychological transition," former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan told CBC News Network's Power & Politics host Rosemary Barton. 

Stores opening despite fact that current federal law does not allow for recreational sale of marijuana.

A Canadian chain of recreational marijuana dispensaries is set to open eight shops across Montreal today.

Cannabis Culture, which is co-owned by activists Jodie and Marc Emery, already has stores in British Columbia and Ontario.

They're now bringing their shops to Montreal, despite the fact that current federal law does not allow for the recreational sale of marijuana in Canada.