Once back into experimenting with marijuana I hung out with those in the medical marijuana world. In Washington, Medical Marijuana had been running for at least a dozen years and was taking on a new look with the passage of Recreational Marijuana. Medical Collectives were popping up everywhere they could be allowed, some even skirting the law and operating as “bait” or “garden” shops. I was even able to get a medical prescription for an old military related injury that induced “Chronic Pain” I kept my prescription for the year allowed and did not renew, as the recreational market was getting ready to open up. But during my time as a “Medical Patient”, I spoke to many Garden Owners and other patients to find that many truly did utilize marijuana, in various forms, for an array of medical aliments. What I consider to be a true medical reason. During my time in obtaining my medical card, I did witness many “patients” who were using the program to get “medicine” with a better variety at a reasonable price. There are many who I feel were abusing the medical system for their love of the weed. And who can blame them, the system allowed it, and there was plenty of strains to satisfy those most in need.
With the opening of retail stores that supported the new Recreational industry, we started to see many strains cross-over but many customers (prior medical customers) are still waiting for the larger inventory of CBD strains to hit the shelves. Now that retail stores can start selling to the medical community we are slowly seeing some specific strains appearing on Recreational Store shelves. But what they did bring quickly to market was plenty of flower with some variety as far as drinks, and a few edibles.
Today, that market share is widening with even more variety and CBD specific pills, lotions and the lot.
Many early in the business saw it coming, with the glut of flower eventually over suppling the recreational demand, people still heavy into the medical way of getting their medicine continued to support the Collectives.
But with reported numbers from the last few weeks, it looks like the Recreational market is trending down during this time of the year and even Medical Outlets are seeing a slowdown of return customers and hardly any new patients.
This trend may not relate in the overall view of the industry in Washington State, but looking at the specific markets those outside the larger communities up north, are seeing the wane. It could be that tourism, which is on and off, could be one factor as well as new markets on boarding or nearby states are getting closer to opening up their Recreational Marijuana business.
You would think that the business of marijuana would be like most any other business in Washington or across the Nation. But, I can attest, that it is most definitely not. People would say that a widget is a widget no matter what that widget is, and the manufacturing and selling of that widget should follow most any basic business formula. From what I have seen, the ones in the Washington Recreational Industry have not figured out their widget.
This is not a problem across the board, as I am sure there are some in the business who have it figured out, but for the most part countless participants in the industry are busy “putting out fires” instead of “preventing fires” that are costing them money and losing market share. By no means am I an expert, but have been involved with many organizations of various sizes to understand what it takes to make things work and it starts with collecting a good employee base. And in the marijuana industry, that may be a little harder to do. There are plenty of people adapt at growing, but how many can control several stages of growth, several strains, and more square footage then you can toss a football deep. I am not saying that you have to have a full team of qualified horticulturists, just a good recipient for your environment and people who can follow explicit instructions, and you grow from there. But that is for the next Ascent.
Banes.
With the opening of retail stores that supported the new Recreational industry, we started to see many strains cross-over but many customers (prior medical customers) are still waiting for the larger inventory of CBD strains to hit the shelves. Now that retail stores can start selling to the medical community we are slowly seeing some specific strains appearing on Recreational Store shelves. But what they did bring quickly to market was plenty of flower with some variety as far as drinks, and a few edibles.
Today, that market share is widening with even more variety and CBD specific pills, lotions and the lot.
Many early in the business saw it coming, with the glut of flower eventually over suppling the recreational demand, people still heavy into the medical way of getting their medicine continued to support the Collectives.
But with reported numbers from the last few weeks, it looks like the Recreational market is trending down during this time of the year and even Medical Outlets are seeing a slowdown of return customers and hardly any new patients.
This trend may not relate in the overall view of the industry in Washington State, but looking at the specific markets those outside the larger communities up north, are seeing the wane. It could be that tourism, which is on and off, could be one factor as well as new markets on boarding or nearby states are getting closer to opening up their Recreational Marijuana business.
You would think that the business of marijuana would be like most any other business in Washington or across the Nation. But, I can attest, that it is most definitely not. People would say that a widget is a widget no matter what that widget is, and the manufacturing and selling of that widget should follow most any basic business formula. From what I have seen, the ones in the Washington Recreational Industry have not figured out their widget.
This is not a problem across the board, as I am sure there are some in the business who have it figured out, but for the most part countless participants in the industry are busy “putting out fires” instead of “preventing fires” that are costing them money and losing market share. By no means am I an expert, but have been involved with many organizations of various sizes to understand what it takes to make things work and it starts with collecting a good employee base. And in the marijuana industry, that may be a little harder to do. There are plenty of people adapt at growing, but how many can control several stages of growth, several strains, and more square footage then you can toss a football deep. I am not saying that you have to have a full team of qualified horticulturists, just a good recipient for your environment and people who can follow explicit instructions, and you grow from there. But that is for the next Ascent.
Banes.
