The first recreational dispensary in the Grand Valley had its grand opening in Palisade, Colo. on Sept. 23. The dispensary was exclusively for medical marijuana during the past eight years. The recently passed law allowed three recreational dispensaries in Palisade.
Jesse Loughman, the owner of Colorado Weedery, was at the grand opening with more than a dozen cars parked around the shop and on the street.
“There will be two other licenses coming into Palisade on the retail recreational side,” Loughman said. “We’ll see that in three to six months.”
These other two licenses will allow for people to get more recreational marijuana.
“We opened the medical dispensary in 2009 and we’ve been working at it quite a bit. Last November [during] the election cycle, we were able to get it though,” Loughman said.
Loughman suggested that this has been in the works for years, but had to wait for the next election cycle to be presented. If the town had voted otherwise, this wouldn’t have been possible.
“We are closer now. That’s going to bring a lot of people here for a while and then it’s going to be up to our pricing, our products and our service after that,” Loughman said.
Being the closest dispensary to Grand Junction will allow for more people and students to consume cannabis. The shop that supplies medical marijuana is located right next door to the recreational marijuana shop.
“Our medical facility, we grow and produce all of the products in there. They are in-house vertically integrated products. Where on the recreational site it is a little bit different because we are working with different vendors,” Loughman said. “The tax rate is insane on the recreational line compared to medical.”
Loughman suggests that having these vendors for recreational marijuana doesn’t allow for the shop to grow in-house like the medical side.
“Obviously, we get a lot more people coming in for recreational because it’s for 21+,” Loughman said.
Having recreational dispensary in the town allows for more people to get access to marijuana. Unlike medical dispensaries, recreational dispensaries can only be used by customers who are over 21.
“Convenience, I use to go to Parachute [for my cannabis]. This was my first time here and it was pretty nice,” Matt McGinley, a local shopper, said.
McGinley suggests that this is a nice shop and is convenient to many other people.
“This will be a little economic boost for the town of Palisade in general if we have 250-350 people coming here a day 365 days a year. People aren’t just going to go to the dispensary, they may go to the brewery or to the café or buy gas here or to the grocery store,” Loughman said. “The economic part is that it will drive the economy here and it is going to be helpful.”
Loughman suggests that this will help bring new people to Palisade that would normally never have stopped in the town. Once people are in the town, then the visitors are more likely to shop elsewhere in the town.
“We try to reach any demographic of people who want to buy cannabis on a recreational side. That’s what it’s here for,” Loughman said. “People want to consume cannabis, so we are going to provide it for them.”
