DISCOVERY BAY –– For the second consecutive weekend, the North Olympic Peninsula’s only recreational marijuana outlet ran out of inventory before the end of business hours.
On July 28, Sea Change Cannabis at Discovery Bay carried an inventory of about 2½ pounds and sold out by 7:30 p.m. after opening for the weekend at 10 a.m.
Owner Greg Brotherton had hoped to have more for sale his second weekend beginning Friday but could find only 1 pound of bud-form marijuana and bags of pre-rolled joints made from trimmings.
He closed after being open just three hours, having sold to about 80 people who were each limited to purchasing 1 gram.
Like other pot retailers statewide, Brotherton is facing a shortage of legal marijuana since state Liquor Control Board licensing of growers has lagged and supply can’t meet demand.
His aim is to be open Fridays through Sundays, but so far, he hasn’t made it past the weekend’s first day.
People began lining up at the store in a tiny log cabin at 282332 U.S. Highway 101 at about 8 a.m. for an anticipated 10 a.m. opening, but delivery of the marijuana was delayed until 2 p.m.
Many people waited in line the whole time.
“We had about a 5 percent attrition rate” of people who didn’t want to stay, Brotherton said.
Long wait
Green Apple’s father-and-son owners Mike and Brian Lavallee showed up to loud applause when they emerged from their delivery truck with the crate of packages.
Brian Lavallee said the Bubba Kush would provide those who could get it with a mild “daytime high.”
Those waiting had been given numbers, as Sea Change’s pager system, employed during its opening day rush, did not work.
Brotherton said 57 numbers had been given out by the time of the Lavallees’ delivery.
A few of those who began waiting early were able to procure pot, albeit not in a legal fashion.
Amy Rose Dubin, one of the principal investors in Sea Change and manager of the Discovery Bay Village Store next door, said a woman came into her store at around 9 a.m. to say another woman was outside selling ounces of illegal marijuana.
Dubin then asked the illegal vendor to leave, and the woman got on a Jefferson Transit bus and left, but not before she sold a few ounces of marijuana, Dubin said.
Brotherton, whose retail establishment is the only one currently licensed and operating in Jefferson and Clallam counties, plans to open again next Friday but doesn’t know how much inventory he will be able to procure.
“This is a good place to be right now,” he said of the new business.
“But I can’t wait until the supply evens out.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
