ASHEVILLE — City alcohol regulators say they're making some preparations to sell marijuana should it become legal in North Carolina.

Asheville Alcoholic Beverage Control officials made the statements during and after a Tuesday City Council meeting where they were reporting annual numbers and trends to the elected body.

ABC Board Chairman Lewis Isaac told the council it is the board's job to take a "30,000-foot view" and anticipate changes.

"There is a national trend to legalize cannabis. And we will probably oversee the sales and distribution because we are already a part of that control structure," said Isaac, who like other board members is appointed by the council.

Council members made no comment about the potential for cannabis legalization. Last year, the council voted unanimously in support of a state bill allowing medical marijuana.

Asheville's ABC system is building a $3 million, 40,000-square-foot warehouse on old Brevard Road to deal with high growth in liquor sales. The warehouse will be built with additional capacity, Isaac said, to hold cannabis products if legalization happens.

“One of the good things about our new warehouse is that we will have space in case that indeed does occur," the chairman said.

Mark Combs, the city's ABC general manager, speaking after the meeting said Asheville's liquor body is seen around the state as kind of a maverick institution. But Combs, who as manager is overseen by the ABC board, said he thought preparing for marijuana legalization was the responsible thing to do.

"I’m 62 years old. I’m not going to be there forever but I sure don’t want my successor to curse my name."

Combs said at national conventions, Asheville ABC officials have talked to liquor regulators from states with legal cannabis, including Colorado, Vermont and Washington.

They have told him that marijuana and alcohol shouldn't be sold in the same store.

"Every one of them said, whatever you do, separate the two of them from a retail standpoint.

"It’s a different product, it’s like selling tires and clothes," he said.

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In North Carolina's General Assembly some Democrats have pushed for legalizing medical marijuana.

It's not clear if the loss in the November election of a Republican supermajority will boost that effort, but one House Democrat, Rep. Kelly Alexander of Mecklenburg, is looking to create a cannabis caucus and to reach out to Republicans, according to the NC Insider.

Recreational marijuana sales are legal in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California, Massachusetts and Nevada. Maine is expected to begin legal sales sometime next year.

Adult use of marijuana is also legal in Michigan, Vermont and the District of Columbia, but there are no provisions for legal sales in either place.

Medical marijuana is legal in almost two dozen states, including Louisiana and Florida.

USA TODAY contributed to this report.