WASHINGTON:  Washington state’s new recreational marijuana shops will open next week for the first time to legally sell marijuana to adults. But there’s a problem: They’re low on weed.

“Supply is going to be tight as this market launches,” said Brian Smith, communications director for the state Liquor Control Board –the agency charged with regulating the nascent retail marijuana market. “This is an emerging market that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. It’s a lot different than Colorado. And just like Colorado did when it first opened up, it had some shortages, but Washington’s supply system is very robust and in a little bit of time all those suppliers will be feeding into the retail chain and there will be a lot.”

The LCB will issue the first retail marijuana business licenses on Monday to about 20 outlets, Smith said. That gives the new pot shops about 24 hours to enter their cannabis inventory into the state’s seed-to-sale marijuana tracking system so they can open for business on Tuesday.