The Struggle Is Real: What It’s Really Like to Be a Cannabis Retailer

When California passed Prop. 64, recreational cannabis was expected to become a booming industry, eclipsing even the wildly successful medical industry it replaced. While many operators in the cannabis scene were skeptical of the bill, others dove headlong into what they anticipated would be a new green rush. Countless brands popped up to take advantage of the expanded market, and dispensaries were expected to reap some of the biggest rewards of recreational legalization. As a result, one of the most salient misconceptions about retailers is that they are rolling in money.


But the reality is that many cannabis retailers are drowning in taxes, struggling to stay afloat. This myth was confronted with a sour dose of reality when Doobie Nights was burglarized in January. The shop was closed at the time, so no one was hurt, but the details that emerged were astonishing. Security footage revealed that the thieves pulled up in a Mercedes and a Maserati, wearing designer shoes that appeared to be worth thousands of dollars.

“It’s the rich robbing the poor,” Damon Crain, co-owner and general manager of Doobie Nights, said shortly after the incident.

Poor? How could the owner of a pot dispensary in the largest legal cannabis industry in the world possibly be poor? Turns out, there are more reasons than you’d expect. Between exorbitant taxes, a saturated retail market, and the inability to write off most business expenses, Doobie Nights, which celebrated its third anniversary last December, has still not turned a profit.

Two men smile, holding trash bags and grabbers, on a sunny day near a bridge and trees. They are collecting litter.
That’s why the break-in was “an extra punch to the gut, knowing that we would never be able to afford that kind of car and that the people robbing us were clearly better off than the people they were robbing,” said Crain, who said he drives a 23-year-old truck and wears $30 shoes.
The system is clearly broken, although it’s hard to say that about something that never really worked in the first place. Is there any relief in sight?
“The DCC will definitely have to adjust the rules for the industry to stay sustainable,” the management team said, “but it may be too late to save a lot of the businesses that are struggling and failing... It’s very difficult seeing so many local and small farmers go under because they can’t compete with the big corporate growers, and that will certainly start happening with retailers as well.”
Facing an uncertain future, the Doobie Nights management team says they’ll just have to “be scrappy to survive until laws are adjusted.”
Let’s just hope the DCC makes those adjustments before the entire industry goes up in smoke.

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