D2 Dispensaries in Tucson, Arizona. Photo by Shawn Smith.
Over 11 years of working in the cannabis industry, I’ve accumulated thousands of email contacts — and that’s not including the tens of thousands of emails that have been compiled through Marijuana Venture’s print and digital subscriptions and the numerous business events we’ve hosted since our first Interchange in 2016.
Recently, I began to ponder this giant list and whether I should put some energy into removing the countless contacts who had left the cannabis industry or had worked for companies that had gone under. So I started sending a simple email to people I hadn’t heard from in a while, or people I suspected had changed companies, or people I had forgotten with time.
Wellness Check
I sent out several hundred emails — though I didn’t keep track of exactly how many — and eliminated more than 400 contacts from my massive list as emails bounced or people responded saying they’ve left the biz.
Several said they sold their business and moved on (I hope they cashed in while the market was hot and are enjoying retirement). Several said they’re still grinding away, some with enduring love for working in the industry and others with a sense of dismay and concern for the future. Several said they had left and were thrilled to be done with that chapter in their lives, varying degrees of vitriol evident in their writing.
“Absolutely not. It’s toxic and horrible and has only gotten worse,” said one respondent.
“Can’t say my outlook for the industry is very positive. That said, there are plenty of good people making good products and fighting the good fight,” said another.
A small handful said something along the lines of wanting to continue working with the industry but not seeing value in the current business climate.
“At this time, we have pulled back from the cannabis industry,” one ancillary company president wrote. “What we found during our earlier foray into the industry was, while our services are critically needed — (business services redacted to protect the identity of the emailer) — business leaders were not ready to listen to solid business advice in these areas. The industry needs to mature a little more before leaders will be ready for the services we offer.”
If I were the editor of a business magazine focused on another industry — security, for example — I don’t think I would get these types of responses from people abandoning the ship.
I had a long conversation with a grower in California. Without divulging specifics, they were not optimistic about the future, laying much of the blame on state regulators and lawmakers who don’t seem to understand or care about the Golden State’s cannabis industry — and sure as hell don’t care about legacy operators who risked everything to build the industry, the people who bought the sales pitch about the benefit of transitioning from the shadows into the legal, licensed, tax-paying businesses that are struggling to stay afloat today.
Continuing to Build
But some businesses are surviving, often with lowered expectations or a reimagined gameplan. Some, it could be said, are even thriving — though we all know the margins are much thinner and the competition much more cutthroat than once envisioned.
The Arizona cannabis company D2 Dispensaries recently opened its third retail store in Tucson, making it the city’s only cannabis retailer with a drive-thru.
According to a press release, the new store is a partnership between the owners of D2 Dispensaries and George Roop, owner of HALO Cannabis.
“Expanding to a third location is a huge milestone for us,” said D2 Dispensaries co-founder Moe Asnani. “This partnership with George Roop allows us to bring our top-quality products and service to even more people in Tucson. We’re especially excited to offer a drive-thru to this side of town, making it easier than ever for customers to access locally made cannabis products.”
Bong Candles, a creative venture from Megan Stone.
Megan Stone, the prolific designer who founded High Road Design Studio in 2013 and has created some of the most interesting cannabis shops in North America, launched Bong Candles … which are exactly what they sound like.
“For 10 years, I traveled sea to shining sea making sure that your weed shopping experience looked dope AF,” she wrote on her website. “After helping nearly 100 clients craft picture-perfect, award-winning pot shops, I thought I’d seen it all. But the one thing I’d never came across in my journeys far and wide — a bong candle. I knew I couldn’t be the only person longing for a cute bong filled with deliciously scented soy wax that coordinates perfectly with my grown-up home décor and fills my space with stress-relieving aromas. And what if this candle could turn into a usable smoking pipe once she was done burning it? Even better!”
Autumn Brands in California is continuing its push for zero-pesticide cannabis cultivation. The cannabis company is based on six generations of family farming and uses ladybugs and other beneficial insects instead of pesticides to minimize health risks and environmental impact, while improving the quality of cannabis it produces, evidenced by the numerous awards the brand has won in recent years.
nuEra is launching a cannabis-infused version of Jeppson’s Malört called the Chicago HIGH Five.
In Illinois, for 4/20, nuEra is working on launching a cannabis-infused version of Jeppson’s Malört in partnership with the CH Distillery. Apparently (yes, I had to Google it), Malört is a bitter liqueur that is iconic in Chicago. The non-alcoholic, THC-infused version of the liqueur, called the Chicago HIGH Five, will be available in all nuEra stores and a select number of cannabis shops around Illinois. It won’t be available outside the Prairie State, so I guess I’ll have to settle for its alcoholic namesake some day when I’m feeling adventurous.
And Oregon’s Cannabis Concierge is marking its 10th year in the cannabis space, with a focus on Backstage Budtending, providing a range of THC and CBD products from partners to various venues, festivals, bands, promoters and others involved in the entertainment space. The company is also hoping to launch its Puff Puff Pour events this summer, pairing cannabis strains from local farms with a variety of beverages, including microbrews, wines and coffees, in much the same way a wine sommelier would pair specific vintages with a chef-prepared meal.
If you’re still working in cannabis, feel free to reach out with any interesting products or projects. Email me at Editor@MarijuanaVenture.com. I can’t guarantee I will write about it … but I’d be happy to add you to my list of people who are still working on moving this industry forward.