GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — Dispensary owner Craton Edwards was one of the lucky ones who won the city’s lottery to open his business. Edwards runs The Garage dispensary on Colorado Avenue.
“I know they were nervous about introducing marijuana into Grand Junction,” said Edwards. “And so they were very cautious about the way they approached that.”
Voters approved two measures back in 2022 that would allow and regulate the retail sale of cannabis in the city. A part of that process included a lottery that would select 10 businesses to operate in the city of Grand Junction.
Edwards talked with WesternSlopeNow about the process it took to open his business.
“Some of the processes they put in place was there was an initial application process where you had to actually have ownership or at least a lease signed and ready for the property that you were going to be using. They then also had a few other stipulations as far as background checks, going through the MED, which is through the state of Colorado, that made the process itself a little more in-depth than most businesses that I’ve seen.”
Out of the 10 businesses selected, only five have opened.
Councilmember Anna Stout stated during the meeting, “We calculated a number of things based on projections for ten businesses being open. I’d like to see ten businesses be open. If the other five that are working on this get going, great. If there are others that can come in, stand that up and start generating revenue great.”
So, city councilmembers laid out five options last week.
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Monitor the status of openings and report back to the council at or near year’s end.
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Develop an ordinance to amend the code to allow for more than one extension with conditions.
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Lower the cap to the number of businesses open when current extended licenses expire.
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Retain the current cap, but delay the opportunity to apply for vacated licenses until some future time.
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Commit to the current cap and allow a new application period after each vacancy/extension expires.
No final decision has been made on which option the council plans to pursue.
WesternSlopeNow will continue to follow this story as it develops.
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