weGrow Phoenix will be holding a Dispensary Permits Seminar on May 16th from 12:00 – 3:00 PM. This complimentary seminar will cover more information on the financial aspects of owning a dispensary as well as the legalities and process of applying for a dispensary permit. The seminar will feature Ryan Hurley of Rose Law Group and Dhar Mann the founder and CEO of weGrow Store.
This is the second column in a three-part series.
Once you have carefully considered the unique challenges involved in opening a medical marijuana dispensary and the various ways to mitigate risk, the next step is to identify the right opportunity.
If you’re looking to capitalize on the “Green Rush” in a state that allows medical marijuana dispensaries, you likely have three choices: 1) invest in (or buy) an existing dispensary; 2) apply for a dispensary permit during an open registration process; or 3) launch a dispensary in a jurisdiction where no moratorium is in place.
Whichever approach applies to your situation, it’s prudent to assess the market opportunity before you start to invest a lot of money. In the second part of this series, I’d like to examine the important factors to consider when assessing the financial opportunity of owning a dispensary.
Before I dive into the details, I’d like to make one point of clarification. I will use the term “financial opportunities” frequently. With the exception of Colorado, each medical marijuana state requires you to be a not-for-profit entity. So the term financial opportunities refers to sales potential, not profit potential.
Artificial Scarcity
Why were dispensaries in Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the U.S., closing doors while a dispensary in Oakland reported tens of millions of dollars in sales? A large contributing factor is scarcity (or, in economic terms, artificial scarcity).
In cities and states where medical marijuana distribution centers are heavily regulated, there’s usually a larger financial opportunity.
Oakland, for instance, placed a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries to limit the number to four (although it recently increased this number to eight), effectively legislating an oligopoly. Los Angeles, on the other hand, did not cap the number of dispensaries. As a result, medical marijuana centers sprouted up in L.A. at a rapid pace, and in some cases two or three opened within one city block.
Which city offers the better opportunity? Oakland.
The same principle is at work when taxi medallions in major metropolitan cities sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars: Restricting the number of licenses limits the competition, resulting in a larger economic opportunity.
Read more at Medical Marijuana Business Daily.
weGrow Phoenix is hosting two events this week: a seminar on dispensary permits and a MMJ farmers market!
Join us on Friday, May 4 for more information on the legalities and process of applying for a dispensary permit. The seminar will feature Ryan Hurley of Rose Law Group. Ryan cover the following hot topics:
The seminar runs from 12 – 3 PM. For more information and to register, view the event.
On Sunday, May 6 from noon – 4:20 PM, weGrow Phoenix will be hosting a Farmers Market! The event will feature prizes, giveaways, over 20 MMJ vendors and more. Admission is $3 and the first 40 RSVPs will receive a prize upon entry. Please Note: You must have your doctors recommendation to attend the event.
Both of these great events will take place at the weGrow Phoenix Store at 2937 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85017.
The Arizona medical cannabis dispensary program continues. This comes as a relief to many medical marijuana dispensary businesses in Arizona. There will no longer be any more interference from Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, regarding the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana laws. This is good news for MMJ supporters who seemed to criticize the governor during the previous year for slowing down the dispensary licensing process. Brewer claims she did so because the feds were warning her about state employees being prosecuted. MMJ advocates believe she was intentionally hindering the process of opening up dispensaries in Arizona despite the warnings from the Feds.
Brewer eventually allowed the dispensary programs to open after losing a legal battle over the matter. However, the U.S. Attorney, Ann Birmingham Scheel, still forewarns that MMJ laws in Arizona fail to fully protect state workers from prosecution and are still illegal beneath federal laws.
Overall this is positive news for medical marijuana dispensary businesses. Despite warnings from the federal government, cannabis programs continue to be open in Arizona. This is encouraging news especially for those who have just entered into the medical marijuana field or who are thinking about starting their own dispensary program.
Interested in a getting involved in a growing industry? We can help. weGrow dispensary permits has written permit winning dispensary and cultivation plans. weGrow has assembled a team of top professionals including doctors, lawyers, scientists, architects, CPAs, horticulturalists, engineers and medical marijuana business owners to create comprehensive dispensary and cultivation plans. The intellectual property we have developed on medical marijuana cultivation and medical marijuana dispensing would cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop on your own- but is available to you at a fraction of the cost.
Contact us today (info@weGrowstore.com) for a complimentary plan sampling today!
