SEQUIM –– A shortage of marijuana to stock new recreational pot stores should have little impact on potential owners of the North Olympic Peninsula’s 10 retail outlets, many of whom don’t expect to be open when sales are allowed to begin next Tuesday.
“We’re having our first inspection from the state Monday, and looking at all this paperwork, we’re probably going to have a lot more to go through after that,” said Wendy Buck-Benge, who with her husband, Nicholas Benge, was selected in the lottery to run one of two Port Angeles stores.
Other potential pot purveyors said they wouldn’t be set to open next week either.
“I would like to say I’ll open up next week, but it’s going to be a while before I can even begin to work on my building,” said David Halpern, whose Emanon Systems was selected in the lottery for Sequim’s sole retail outlet.
He intends to set up the shop at 755 W. Washington, Suite C, but the space is currently occupied by an Edward Jones financial services office that will stay there until August, Halpern said.
At that point, Halpern will have to remodel the site to comply with strict state security standards.
“And then I still have to wait to see what the city wants to do,” he said.
A city-implemented six-month moratorium on marijuana businesses in Sequim city limits will be up for review by the council in August.
Delayed openings may be fine, as there may not be a local crop ready to stock the shelves.
Jean Davis, who has been growing marijuana with her husband, Thomas Ash, in their TropicGrow barn at Dungeness since receiving producer and processor licenses April 1, said their production has been delayed by learning how to grow the finicky plant.
“It will have to start off without us,” she said.
“It grows like a weed, but a weed that needs constant attention.”
The first TropicGrow crop of 150 plants will be ready for market in August, with another ready in September.
That first crop already has plenty of demand, Ash said, as the couple has fielded calls from several potential retailers who have offered to buy their entire crop.
High demand for a limited supply of legal marijuana is driving up prices people are willing to pay for the first TropicGrow crop, Ash said.
“It’s going to be the wild, wild west for a while,” Davis said. “Hopefully it doesn’t turn into an eBay type auction situation.”
Ash and Davis said they don’t intend to jack up prices in the limited supply-high demand marketplace, saying instead the demand allows them to select retailers with whom they feel comfortable forming a long-term supplier relationship.
“We want to have a predictable price, something that is fair over time,” Ash said.
“I want to be in a long-term industry, not a gold rush.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
