AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) The first week of applications to open marijuana businesses in Maine has been busy.

The Maine Office of Marijuana Policy says the state started taking the applications on Dec. 5, and it has received 76 of them so far.

Thirty-eight of the applications are for retail stores, 27 are for cultivation facilities and 11 are for manufacturing facilities.

The facilities would need local approval from municipalities. Maine voters approved legal sales of marijuana for adult use in a November 2016 vote.

The state has said it expects recreational marijuana to be available in stores by spring 2020.