LAS VEGAS — At a nondescript building near the Las Vegas Strip, workers in scrubs, hairnets and surgical masks furiously attached labels to sealed jars as others checked on growing marijuana plants or carefully weighed buds.

The frenzied activity is focused on one goal: Getting dispensaries ready to start selling recreational marijuana Saturday in Nevada, largely to tourists.

The company that owns the indoor cultivation facility and three dispensaries in the Las Vegas area has been gearing up since voters approved legal pot in November. Desert Grown Farms held job fairs, checked potential employees’ backgrounds and hired about 60 additional workers. It also stocked up on product.

But preparing to pump enough pot into a market eventually expected to outpace any other legal pot state – at least until California starts its sales – and complying with last-minute regulations has been a task.

“I truly believe we’re ready,” said CEO Armen Yemenidjian, whose company owns the only dispensary that will sell recreational pot on the Las Vegas Strip this weekend. “It would be a good problem to have if I couldn’t meet my demand.”

Nevada will join Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska in allowing those 21 and older to buy the drug. After approving recreational pot last year, Maine is working out rules on sales.

It remains illegal to use the drug in public areas, including casinos, bars, restaurants, parks, convention centers and concert halls – places frequently visited by millions of tourists, who are expected to make nearly two of every three recreational pot purchases in Nevada. Violators face a $600 fine.

Plus, you can’t light up and drive. “You can be on Percocet, Valium, meth, booze or marijuana, if you are found to be under the influence, you will go to jail,” Las Vegas Officer Larry Hadfield said.

Despite the limits on where people can get high, dispensaries poised to begin selling recreational pot have been adding extra security and additional checkout lines.

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