SAN FRANCISCO - Country singer Willie Nelson, the children of the late reggae icon Bob Marley and comedian Whoopi Goldberg are just a few of the growing number of celebrities publicly jumping into the marijuana industry and eyeing the California pot market.

The market is expected to explode after voters in the state legalized the recreational use of weed.

Regulators are still scrambling to get California's recreational marijuana market launched and are racing to issue licenses to growers and sellers by early 2018.

Still to be decided is who will receive the first licenses to grow, distribute and sell recreational pot. Growers already cleared to sell medical marijuana in California could be the first in line.