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Not enough weed to go around in WA pot industry

Josh Rosman
/
OPB

It’s been two months since retail marijuana stores opened in Washington state. Already, the state says sales have exceeded $10 million. But the supply of pot has also been tight, meaning some retail stores in the state can’t be open as often as they’d like.

Washington’s burgeoning retail marijuana industry is getting off to a slow start.
Take this store in Vancouver, which was closed at times last month.

“Thank you for calling Main Street Marijuana … we are closed all day … we will reopen tomorrow at approximately 2 p.m. once our new shipment of new marijuana arrives … We look forward to seeing you then.”

Today, Main Street Marijuana is open. It’s a little after 11 a.m. and there’s a line of people out the door.

A doorman checks IDs, and only lets a few people into the store at a time. Those here today are from all over – Washington, Oregon, New York, California.

People pass a “menu” down the line. It lists the types of marijuana on sale, the prices and the THC level.

Some customers say it's their first time visiting the store. But repeat customers say that even after two months, prices still seem steep. Today the weed’s selling for $35 a gram – about two or three times street prices, according to several folks standing in line.

Steve Johnson is from Forest Grove, Oregon

“There was another store that we tried that was not open so we came here instead.”

He says prices keeps going up because there’s not enough supply to meet demand.

“A little surprised by it quite honestly. There’s a lot of pot out there. I don’t know what they’re having a hard time keeping it supplied. But they are, it is what it is.”

All across Washington state, retail marijuana stores are having a difficult time getting enough pot from growers to keep up with customer demand. And retailers that can get product tend to pay a lot for it.

“The shortages that we were experiencing in the beginning we thought would quickly be going away are still lagging.”

Ramsey Hamide (ham-E-da) is the general manager at Main Street Marijuana. When we spoke he was on a trip in eastern Washington, lining up growers to sell their marijuana crops to him. He's trying to prevent future closures.

“Well of course we’re trying to get product. That’s my first and foremost goal from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed at night.”

Hamide says in the last two months, after taxes and paying his employees he’s left with little – if any-- profit.

And marijuana growers, in turn, say they can’t keep up with demand from retailers.

Kelley Stewart runs Chicken Barn Farms in Longview where she grows about 1400 square feet of marijuana.

“Yeah, my chicken barn is no longer for chickens.”

Stewart says she get eight calls a day from pot store owners asking to buy her marijuana crop.

“And I get stuff in the mail and I get emails … The growers feel a lot of pressure because we want to keep the retailers with product and we can’t. You go out and talk to your plants and tell them to grow faster and they’re just not going to do it.”

Many are hoping a big fall crop will help ease the supply issue, and subsequently lower the price.

Brian Smith is a spokesperson for the Washington Liquor Control Board, the agency that regulates the marijuana industry.

“A lot of people will look to the outdoor grows, which are some of the bigger ones in eastern Washington, 21,000 square feet. And they have a harvest that will be coming up September, October. So that product will be making its way to shelves, October, November.”

According to data from the agency, the state's brought in $2.5 million in taxes from the industry so far.

Smith says there’s much as 10 tons of marijuana in production in the state right now – enough to cover 30 football fields.

“Some of the suppliers that have lined up multiple suppliers are in much better shape than people that are relying on a single supplier that can’t necessarily get them product on a regular basis.”

Back outside Main Street Marijuana in downtown Vancouver, the steep prices aren’t getting in the way of big sales.

Ken B is from Oregon. He declined to give his last name because he says his employer might not approve.

“I got Taney Kush. I don’t know what’s up with these brand names, these strain name. Montana Silverton from Buddy Boy Farms … I have no idea! Cana-sol.net.

And the grand total?

“I spent almost $400 dollars … That’s a lot to spend for somebody that doesn’t know what they’re doing, isn’t it?"

And with that, he closed a bag full of marijuana products. He says it's been 20 years since he last smoked pot.
 

Copyright 2014 OPB

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