Though marijuana had a big year, reaching new milestones nearly every month, none was more remarkable or historic than the first day of legal recreational weed sales in Colorado. In snow and cold, thousands of people waited in line outside the roughly three dozen pot shops that were fully licensed and stocked by New Year’s Day. Legalization advocates arranged and announced the first customer in advance: an Iraq war veteran named Sean Azzariti who had campaigned for legalization, saying the substance helps treat his post-traumatic stress disorder. At 8 a.m. in Denver, he bought an eighth-ounce of Bubba Kush weed and THC-infused truffles for about $60.

Though the Netherlands is, mistakenly, often thought of as a place where cultivating and selling weed is completely aboveboard, Colorado opened the world’s first fully legal and regulated marijuana market. “Nobody knows what is going to happen,” Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown told TIME shortly before opening day, which in the end was remarkably calm. “We’re the pioneers here.”