Looking for true business innovation? No industry in Colorado has innovated more than cannabis.
Legal marijuana in Colorado has grown from a handful of medical caregivers in December 2000 to an estimated $600 million industry in 2014 with more than a thousand cannabis businesses around the state – growers, retailers, caregivers and manufacturers – plus ventures ranging from cannabis tours to coupons.
In Wheat Ridge, Chronic Therapy has evolved from a few plants to a sophisticated 4,000-square-foot organic grow operation and a retail storefront that looks more like a jewelry boutique than the funky head shops of yore, complete with a French bulldog named Jacque who likes to relax in the client waiting area.
For Chronic Therapy, which opened its retail store in Wheat Ridge last year, 2014 was an incredible year. The company expanded from a small grow operation to a medical dispensary, opening a storefront in the former Red Cross building at 27th and Kipling in Wheat Ridge in March 2014. After adding a recreational license in August, Chronic Therapy saw its sales quadruple.
Key to Chronic Therapy’s business philosophy is a focus on the individual needs of both people and plants. “We always focus on quality, from the grow to the front of the house,” said Jason, one of four partners in Chronic Therapy.
“We give each plant its own special attention” in nutrition and flowering time, he said.
While Chronic Therapy is now licensed for recreational sales only, the 18-person staff still serves medical customers. One asked for advice about migraines; pharmaceuticals sedated her too much to function, she said. Thirty minutes of discussion later, Jason suggested patches from Mary’s Medicinals that deliver the active ingredient cannabidiol (CBD) without making her high.
“She came back two days later and was giving me high-fives,” he recalled.
Chronic Therapy and the other cannabis businesses around the state must navigate state regulations ranging from employee licensing to tracing cannabis plants from seed to sale.
Because their products, while legal in Colorado, violate federal drug laws, money management and other everyday business functions are complicated.
But, Jason says, the hassles are far outweighed by the rewards, and opposition from some Wheat Ridge citizens has eased as Chronic Therapy has worked with the city to become what every municipality wants – a thriving local business.
“We just don’t get opportunities like this, to have a completely new industry and have a public that’s been willing to learn and adapt from what they’re been taught for so many years. It’s a very exciting time and I feel very lucky to be a part of it.”
Cannabis Industry by the numbers
- Recreational cannabis sales began Jan. 1, 2014. In the first 10 months of 2014, legal pot sales totaled $573.5 million, according to the Colorado Dept. of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division.
- That translated to more than $60 million in revenue for the state from cannabis taxes, licenses and fees from January to October.
- Annual demand in Colorado is an estimated 130.3 metric tons.
- Some 485,000 Coloradans consume cannabis on a monthly or more frequent basis. That’s about 9 percent of the adult population.
- Out-of-state visitors account for about half of customers in metro Denver cannabis centers and as much as 90 percent of the clientele in mountain towns.
Source: The Denver Post’s The Cannabist section (www.cannabist.co)
