Any bud tenders or automatic bud trimming operators ready to head for the desert? Yes, the good ol’ state of Arizona, who recently opened the door to a new wave of licensing for medical marijuana dispensaries, and got flooded with 750 applications for just 31 permits.
It is perhaps the largest ratio of applications to licenses in any market, and signals that cannabis entrepreneurs are bullish on Arizona.
The tsunami comes ahead of the November elections in which Arizona residents will vote on Proposition 205 to legalize recreational marijuana.
If voters approve the initiative, licensed dispensaries would get first crack at rec licenses. Still, those in the Arizona industry say the tsunami of applications likely would have been just as big if that weren’t the case. That’s in large part thanks to the state’s sizable patient pool of almost 98,000.
Arizona has been a market that has largely flown under the radar for quite some time, but that’s an acknowledgement of both the movement and Arizona as a good candidate as a medical marijuana state.
two dispensaries in the Phoenix metro area, submitted 30 dispensary applications for locations all over the state. They estimated they probably spent between $7,000-$10,000 per application – or up to $300,000 – on the application process.
But if Proposition 205 is approved by voters this fall, that could be chump change for anyone who wins a single license from the new MMJ permitting process, which the state expects to finish sometime in October.It’ll be a huge payoff either way for the winners of the 31 new dispensary licenses, as Arizona has a lot of potential patients waiting in the wings due to the high cost of becoming an MMJ patient. Those same individuals may be waiting to see if Prop 205 passes.
If it does, those individuals are probably hoping that the new act will be implemented immediately – and come December they’ll be able to buy marijuana without a license. if it fails, many think the number of patients will increase dramatically.
The estimated sales via dispensaries in Arizona for 2016 are between $200 million and $250 million, and currently 93 dispensaries operate in the state, with another six licensed but not yet up and running. Many claim the patient base will continue to expand because there is a growing demographic in seniors, as simple acceptance of medical cannabis as a therapy for various ailments has become a burgeoning trend among those over 50.
Well that’s a shout out to all the bud trimmers to tune and oil up them bud trimming machines, looks like the desert hills will be turning from brown too green real soon!
Michael Garay ~