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Boxing legend Mike Tyson is opening a California cannabis ranch to celebrate the state's legalisation of recreational marijuana.

The 51-year-old former heavyweight world champion has already broken ground on 40 acres in California City, a remote town of 15,000 people southwest of Death Valley.

Tyson Ranch will devote 20 acres to cultivation which “will allow master growers to have maximum control of their environment.

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It will also have a Tyson Cultivation School to teach dope farmers how to develop and perfect their own strains, a luxury “glamping” campground with cabins, and an amphitheatre.

Tyson has teamed up with business partners Robert Hickman and Jay Strommen, and is supported by city mayor Jennifer Wood.

The former ring king is a longtime believer in medical marijuana, which has been legal in California for more than 20 years, and the ranch will also carry out research to develop its clinical uses.

He is also supporting former members of the armed forces with the operating company, Tyson Holistic, employing mainly veterans.

California is expecting a marijuana boom with legalisation, and the mayor described the ranch as a “rebirth” for the city which will create needed jobs.

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California City was launched in 1958 as a planned community which would be as big as Los Angeles, but the founder's dreams were never realised.

However, the city has a community college which also serves the nearby Edwards Air Force Base, and a jail.

Tyson, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, is a divisive figure whose career was marred by controversy. He was the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title when he was 20 years old in 1986. He won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them in the first round.

He was arrested in July 1991 for the rape of 18-year-old model Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in prison before being released in March 1995 after serving less than three years.

In 1997 Tyson was disqualified in the third round a fight against Evander Holyfield when he infamously bit part of his opponent's ear off.

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He has been married three times and fathered seven children. His first marriage was to actress Robin Givens but that ended in acrimony amid allegations of violence and mental instability on Tyson's part.

His move into dope growing comes as California becomes the world's largest regulated commercial market for recreational marijuana. The law change comes into effect today and it will see dozens of newly licensed stores open for business up and down the state catering to adults who enjoy the drug for its psychoactive effects.

It becomes the sixth US state, and by far the most populous, venturing beyond legalized medical marijuana to permit the sale of cannabis products of all types to customers at least 21 years old.

Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada were the first to introduce recreational pot sales on a state-regulated, licensed and taxed basis. Massachusetts and Maine are on track to follow suit later this year.

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With California and its 39.5 million residents officially joining the pack, more than one-in-five Americans now live in states where recreational marijuana is legal for purchase, even though cannabis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under US federal law.

The marijuana market in California alone, which boasts the world's sixth-largest economy, is valued by most experts at several billion dollars annually and is expected to generate at least a $1billion a year in tax revenue.

"Adding California to the regulated market for cannabis is a really big deal," said Heather Azzi, a senior attorney for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group working to liberalize marijuana laws.

Most areas of California are sitting out the highly anticipated New Year's Day inauguration of recreational cannabis sales.

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Many, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, will not be ready for days or weeks because of additional red tape required by city and county governments before would-be retailers can obtain their state licenses.

But business will almost certainly be brisk at newly-permitted shops ready on Day One. They number about four-dozen outlets across California, according to an authoritative guide to the cannabis market, GreenState, published by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Stores authorized to carry recreational weed were set to go on New Year's Day in San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Oakland, Berkeley, Eureka and Desert Hot Springs, among other areas.

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Hundreds more are expected to open throughout the state as the year progresses.

Many previously operated strictly as medical cannabis dispensaries under a patchwork of local regulations, and will now be licensed by the state for recreational merchandise as well.

Among the very first will be the Oakland-based Harborside dispensary, which has long ranked as the largest US medical marijuana outlet. It planned to opens its doors at 6am local time on Monday.

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Customers in the recreational sector - which state regulators prefer to call the "adult use" market - are only permitted to buy an ounce (28 grams) of raw cannabis or its equivalent at a time.

Medical patients can buy unlimited quantities, but must present a doctor's note and have purchased a medical ID card.

The stage for Monday's grand opening was set when voters passed a ballot measure in November 2016, Proposition 64, immediately legalising personal possession and use of recreational pot by adults 21 and over.

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But it has taken California lawmakers and bureaucrats over a year to devise a licensing, regulatory and tax structure for all phases of the commercial distribution chain.

California in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use, and more than 30 states have since done likewise.

Uruguay became the first and only country to legalize recreational marijuana sales nationally, permitted through its pharmacies starting in July 2017, but is far smaller in comparison, with a population of just 3.4million.

Canada, with a population of 36million, is expected to follow suit this year.

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Prime minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government will introduce legislation to legalise recreational cannabis on April 10 and officials expect it to be law by July 1.

In Europe, possession of pot is legal in Spain in private areas while it's decriminalised in public with offenders receiving an administrative fine. In Germany recreational consumption is legal as it is considered "self-harm".

In the Netherlands, the sale of pot is illegal but coffee shops openly sell cannabis as there is an official policy of toleration that ensures the police turn a blind eye to 'soft drug' use.

In Britain cannabis is a class B drug . It carries a maximum five-year sentence and an unlimited fine if you’re caught in possession of it. Meanwhile, supply and production of the drug could land you with a 14-year sentence and an unlimited fine.