Marijuana dispensaries across California are having a fire sale of sorts. With the Golden State’s new legal cannabis regulations taking effect July 1, retail shops selling edibles and other pot products are cutting prices to move old non-compliant inventory.
“People are buying stuff they don’t really need,” Scott Lambert, the chief executive of The OG Collective in Cathedral City, Calif., told The Desert Sun. “It’s just like Toys ‘R’ Us going out of business.”
Since California fully legalized marijuana at the beginning of 2018, cannabis businesses across the state have had six months to move toward new labeling and packaging standards, including information such as ingredients and batch numbers. With only six months to revamp their product offerings, some retailers already planned to cut their losses. But others are having close-out sales on product they won’t be able to sell starting Sunday. One Cathedral City dispensary, Remedy Inc., is hosting a barbecue at the shop on Saturday, hoping to move the last $20,000 to $30,000 worth of weed — and at wholesale prices if necessary.
The owner of Buddy’s Cannabis in San Jose told CBS in San Francisco that retailers will not be allowed to sell and will have to destroy any non-compliant products on July 1.
Cannabis businesses across California have been growing like, well, weeds. Bud tending jobs are expected to explode as legalization expands nationwide. Canada also recently became the first G-7 member nation to move toward full legalization of marijuana.