Local marijuana dispensaries geared up for recreational onslaught | Local News

Following a statewide vote on Initiative 190 — which legalized recreational weed — House Bill 701 was conceived and put together guidelines for dispensaries across the state to sell it. But while laws and ordinances were being hammered out, cannabis businesses across the state began to draw up plans.

Product stock needed to be increased to deal with an influx of new customers, and shortages of both labor and material had to be dealt with.

Many parts were moving constantly, creating a flurry of activity in the industry.

“It’s really exciting for us because it’s just a whole new thing,” said Keeva Beddow, a co-owner of Ganja Goddess, a company with several cannabis retail stores across the state. “It’s exciting and we’re preparing, on I would say, all levels.”

Ganja Goddess is entirely women-led and women-owned, with an ownership group from Montana. A 2019 Forbes article reported a survey that of 166 cannabis businesses in 17 states, just 38.5% of survey respondents self-identified as females.

Only 17.6% of the women respondents to the survey held company titles in a director or executive role.

Beddow, who is co-owner with Teria Gioch, said their budtenders — the name given to those who work behind the counter at a retail marijuana store — are highly trained and there are high standards for them.

Much like their compatriots who serve alcohol, budtenders double as cashiers and answer many questions about products — such as what they themselves like — and usually hold a deep knowledge of many marijuana products.

They are also critical in making sure customers feel safe and are getting good advice on what products they might enjoy, or, in the medical setting, might be good for their ailment.

“We always want people to come in and have an experience where they feel like they’re comfortable,” Beddow said. “A lot of our stores have a high-end look to them and Missoula, I would say, is actually one of my favorite stores we have done because it’s just so beautiful in there.”

Beddow, like many of those in the cannabis sales industry, is fighting against a stereotype of dingy, back-alley marijuana shops. Most shops are very straightforward, with products in clear, locked cases.

In many instances, marijuana shops actually look a lot like a high-end tech store. Instead of phones, tablets and computers, the cases contain marijuana flower, concentrate and edibles.

“We really wanted people to come in and be like, ‘wow, this isn’t dingy and dark’ like, you know, a stereotypical pot shop where everyone is walking around listening to reggae,” Beddow said.

Scaling up production has also been a concern. Prior to Jan. 1, all marijuana businesses in Montana had to grow and manufacture their own products. That’s now changed, along with state laws regarding the size of marijuana grows.

But producing more product simply does not happen overnight, explained JJ Thomas, who owns the marijuana company Higher Standard.

“Setting up grow rooms, building grow rooms, hiring more people, teaching them to grow, there’s a lot that goes into that,” Thomas said. “Hiring electricians and ordering lighting, getting more clone (plants). So increasing production has been a focus, but then not only that, but changing the way our stores retail marijuana.”

Advertising has been another hurdle. State regulations stipulate that businesses cannot advertise using any colloquial or slang terms for marijuana.

“You have to be honestly really creative with what you say,” Beddow said.

Even trying to pay taxes can be difficult.

“We have to search out these ways to do things that normal people should be able to do, that they tell us we’re supposed to do like pay our taxes,” Beddow said. “It’s like, okay, but you won’t take our cash but we can’t have a bank so we can’t write you a check, but they won’t take money orders.

“It’s very, very frustrating.”

But while there are many problems and issues that will continue to be addressed by cannabis retailers, there is an overwhelming excitement for legal recreational marijuana shared by many companies in Montana.

The business has potential to be lucrative — the state expects $130 million in recreational sales this year and reported over $1.5 million in sales of recreational product in its first weekend.

There is also a moratorium on new businesses until 2023. Many dispensary owners, including Thomas, expect marijuana prices to rise before stabilizing somewhere in the next few years.

“This is an opportunity to get a lot of the investment that I put in to these locations and these rents and these staffs over the years, to start seeing some money put back in my pocket,” Thomas said. “All day long (we’ve) turned away people from out of state, and just people that come in and don’t have a card that want to purchase marijuana.

“For me, it’s going to get me back on track financially in the Missoula market.”