When the most popular medical marijuana dispensary in Chicago begins selling recreational pot on New Year’s Day, it will operate like a busy restaurant. Dispensary 33 plans to take names from those in line and page customers by phone when they can get in.

The North Side cannabis shop will take that unusual step due to the huge crowds expected when weed sales become legal under state law at 6 a.m. Jan. 1, 2020. The celebration will be similar to the unofficial pot holiday of April 20, or 4/20, when a Dispensary 33 street fest and special deals this year drew 800 medical marijuana customers, marketing manager Abigail Watkins said. “It’ll be like 4/20 every day,” she said.

Statewide, that pent-up demand is expected to hit like rush-hour traffic — too much for the system to handle at once. With marijuana legalization in Illinois a month away, the clock is still ticking on a host of changes that need to be made to accommodate that momentous shift. Growers have expanded, dispensaries have remodeled and lawmakers have fine-tuned the law. [Read more at Chicago Tribune]