Montville ― With less than 10 minutes to go until the start of cannabis sales to recreational customers at The Botanist on Tuesday, about 30 people stood in line along Route 32, from the edge of a heated tent past a few police officers and a stand giving out coffee.

The first customer was Norwich resident Lynn Goldstein, who showed her ID and then got assistance from a pharmacist, who helped her pick out products on a tablet. She purchased flower, pre-rolled joints and oil.

Tuesday was the first day of legal recreational marijuana sales in Connecticut, happening at seven places that previously sold only medical marijuana, including The Botanist. The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection has licensed nine so far.

According to DCP, Connecticut recorded $251,276 in adult-use cannabis sales as of 5 p.m., and Commissioner Michelle Seagull said there were no reported issues at any retailers.

Guided by staff and with media following, Goldstein walked from the tent into the front of the dispensary, and she didn’t have to wait long until her order was filled and she could go into the dispensing area to pick it up. Similar to the appearance of someone waiting in line for a bank teller, Goldstein was called up to the counter and picked up her order, as one would do at a pharmacy.

“We’ve got a celeb here! This is history-making,” said Kate Nelson, regional general manager of the Midwest and Northeast regions for Acreage Holdings, which counts The Botanist among its cannabis brands.

Goldstein, 60, said she has a medical card ― she has had chronic pain for more than a decade ― but it has to be renewed.

“It makes me relaxed and sometimes sleepy, and I just enjoy being a little pain-free,” she said. It doesn’t alleviate the pain entirely, but it helps. Goldstein said she refused back surgery because the odds were only 50-50 it would work, and doctors are hesitant to prescribe people pain medication due to the opioid crisis. But with recreational legalization, she is concerned about younger people driving stoned.

Further back in line, Benjamin Hilton of Norwich said having had back surgery, two hip replacements and a knee replacement, cannabis helps his body relax. He is waiting on a medical marijuana card.

“It’s a whole lot better than Percocets, and I kicked that so I’m not trying to go back to that,” said the 53-year-old Hilton, 53. He and others in line are pleased to not have to drive to Massachusetts anymore to buy cannabis.

“I thought I’d never see the day that it’d be legal to smoke in Connecticut. I’ve smoked all my life,” said Norwich resident Todd Williams, 59. He said he would rather smoke than drink, and he thinks legalization will get crime off the streets.

“People are becoming more open and finding out it does relieve a lot of anxieties and depression,” said New London resident Robin Collins, 60. She doesn’t smoke a lot but said it gets her motivated to start the day. Collins has family members with medical cards and said it was the younger generation encouraging her to get gummies.

For the foreseeable future, The Botanist is open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for medical patients only but is also open to recreational customers from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“Our medical patients are always going to be our priority,” Nelson said, noting that they don’t have to wait in line and that they got 20% off Tuesday morning, as “kind of an early bird special.”

Nelson said among the 15 other locations of The Botanist, two in New Jersey and two in Massachusetts already offer recreational purchases in addition to medical sales. She said Acreage Holdings anticipates opening its Danbury dispensary for hybrid sales ― medical and recreational ― in the next few weeks.

Citing the coffee and heated tent, Nelson said the team “learned a lot” from the launch in New Jersey, about trying to make sure it’s a positive experience even if there are lines. The Montville location has about 40 staff members, roughly a 30% increase from when it strictly served medical use patients.

Nelson didn’t have a forecast Tuesday morning of the number of recreational customers that day. She said The Botanist saw a 150% increase in average transactions in New Jersey, but she didn’t expect people traveling from out of state to Connecticut because recreational cannabis is legal in Massachusetts.

She expects gummies, which have not been available for sale as a medical product, to be one of the “hottest items” on the recreational market, and customers will be limited to three packs per day.

Asked if she wants to see changes to state law around cannabis, Nelson pointed to Connecticut’s unique provision not allowing the use of common strain names. For example, some people may know weed strains as Wedding Cake, Gorilla Glue, or Blue Dream, but in Connecticut they’re getting flowers with more clinical sounding names, such as Blancavec.

Staff know the equivalents, but the public doesn’t have access to the information, and Nelson thinks the adult use market will bring this issue “to the forefront of conversation.”

Montville officials: The Botanist has been great to work with

The Botanist is located at 887 Norwich-New London Turnpike, which previously housed the medical marijuana dispensary Thames Valley Relief under different ownership.

Montville Mayor Ron McDaniel said The Botanist has “done a fantastic job here” and he is proud the town was chosen for recreational sales, which he considers a “natural evolution” of medical sales.

He hopes for two outcomes: a decrease in fentanyl overdoses due to having a “quality control system in place,” and that people will be “responsible stewards” and keep cannabis out of the hands of children and pets.

“Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and if you ain’t got ‘em, get ‘em here,” McDaniel said.

Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said she was pleased to have supported the legislation legalizing adult use cannabis and that having a regulated product is safer. She said The Botanist “has done a great job” and she hopes it expands to other communities.

Montville Police Lt. Dave Radford said The Botanist has been “fantastic to work with” and that the company reached out to police ahead of the start of recreational sales. He said police have four people dedicated to be at the shop the next couple weeks, to keep traffic moving and prevent backups.

“The primary reason is traffic-related,” he said of the police presence. “Of course we’re here to help in the unlikely event something will happen. We don’t anticipate that.”

As for concerns about people driving under the influence, Radford said all officers are trained in advanced impairment detection but he is “not anticipating a huge uptick,” considering marijuana has been out there, just not legally.

“We kind of look at it like it mirrors alcohol,” he said. “You buy it, you can drink it, you just gotta be responsible,” he said.

e.moser@theday.com