Bozeman-area cannabis dispensaries prepping for busy Saturday

The brothers have doubled production in their cultivation space between Four Corners and Gallatin Gateway and are gearing up to expand the cultivation space again in January, which would triple what their able to grow and produce from last year.

They also opened a storefront two weeks ago — prior to that Big Sky Buds was all delivery-based.

The dispensary expanded on the bet that come Jan. 1, demand for cannabis products will skyrocket.

“It’s definitely hard to judge,” said Alec Johnson. “But everything we’ve heard — most people are planning on selling out.”

But replenishing shelves isn’t as simple as ordering more stock. It requires planning ahead and betting on supply and demand. Cannabis takes about four months to grow, said Mitchell Johnson.

The brothers are first prepping for an initial wave of demand in January and think it will uptick again in the summer with the arrival of tourists — under the new law, any U.S. citizen or international traveler over 21 with a valid ID can purchase recreational marijuana in Montana.

Adam Ryder, co-owner of Juniper Cannabis, is making the same bet. The Bozeman-based dispensary recently opened a new storefront in Belgrade and opened two new grow facilities in preparation for recreational sales.

Expanding has been a challenge, he said.

“There’s a serious lack of banking services for the industry, so a lot of providers are forced to self-fund,” Ryder said. “It’s certainly a challenge when you have to come up with money for equipment, staff and to build out new locations. It definitely puts a strain on things.”

With that, there’s still a question of whether expanding will pay off.

“It’s been incredibly challenging to attempt to plan for something we really don’t have good metrics on,” Ryder said.

Darian Gregory, who owns Bighorn Buds in Bozeman, has felt similarly.

“As a startup business, we still have to nickel and dime everything,” he said. “I’m counting my pennies and with all the extra costs with the city and the state and not knowing how the actual market is going to turn out, it’s all a little worrying.”

The biggest challenge in preparing for Jan. 1 for Gregory was keeping apprised of fast-changing state and local regulations.

The Department of Revenue is the regulatory agency for both medical and recreational cannabis. The department began drafting rules in August and began adopting the rules in November.

“It’s been tough trying to stay on top of that,” Gregory said.

Local jurisdictions also have a measure of control too. Gregory is one of eight cannabis providers suing the city of Bozeman over changes it made to municipal marijuana regulations.

Other changes included upping a buffer to 500 feet between marijuana businesses and schools — existing businesses that meet the city’s prior buffer of 400 feet will be grandfathered in.

Gregory said Wednesday that with the uncertainty of Montana’s cannabis market, keeping the cap will ensure dispensaries in Bozeman will stay in the hands of locals and won’t be overcrowded by large out-of-state marijuana businesses.

“I’d much rather see a bunch of mom-and-pop style shops,” he said. If the city still wants to remove the cap, Gregory said, it should be done thoughtfully, to ensure existing businesses aren’t harmed.

The city also upped the licenses fee for a marijuana dispensary from $150 to $750.

Another industry-wide change that Gregory, and the Johnsons, are watching closely is wholesaling.

Previously, cannabis-providers haven’t been able to wholesale products. Each provider has to grow, produce and retail all their own products, but wholesaling means a dispensary in Four Corners or Bozeman could sell products at a storefront in Kalispell or Missoula.

That could allow for more specialized products, Alec Johnson said.

“It’ll really shake up the market,” he said.

All three dispensary owners are also prepping to educate first-time cannabis consumers on all the new rules surrounding adult use.

This week, leading up to legal sales on Saturday, Ryder has been holding employee meetings on how to educate recreational consumers. Many, Ryder thinks, might be first-time cannabis users.

“We’re spending a lot of time developing a template that our employees can use to successfully convey to a newcomer walking through the door,” Ryder said, adding they want consumers to get something that works for them and to know what to expect with each type of cannabis product.

For consumers, the laws surrounding adult use are pretty straightforward, Ryder said.

Any adult over 21 can legally buy and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, up to eight grams of concentrate or up to 800 mg of THC in edible form.

Possessing or using marijuana remains illegal on federal lands — like in Yellowstone National Park.

It’s still illegal to transport marijuana over state borders, and purchasing recreational marijuana remains prohibited in some counties in Montana.

So-called “red counties” around Gallatin, ones that have not voted to legalize adult-use marijuana sales, include Broadwater, Meagher, Stillwater, Sweetgrass and Wheatland.

There are other things, Ryder said, that can get confusing for first-time customers like Montana’s law on driving with marijuana.

People can drive with cannabis, but only if it’s in its unopened and original packaging and stored out of a car’s “passenger area.” Think a trunk, glove compartment or a closed container in an area of the car not occupied by passengers.

“Little things like that will be really important for us to convey to customers so they’re not finding themselves in trouble at any point,” Ryder said.

With a lot of final to-dos and checklists, all four providers said they were excited for Saturday.

“We’re ready to rock and roll,” Gregory said.