...it seems as if anyone and their mother can participate in growing and providing medicine to dispensaries. The question is, why are so few people doing it up till now?
My short surmise as to why more people aren’t “doing it.” High costs, the many and varied risks associated with starting a cannabis farm, and simply because they’re happy/cool/down with their personal status quo. The rest of this is gratuitous and I put it down to "it's a weekend, and my SO is in another state on the opposite coast."
In states that have legal cannabis businesses, most people prefer to buy high quality cannabis from their local storefront as opposed to growing their own (even though with a bit of research, imagination, and effort they could likely grow great weed). So, everyone and their mother probably just don’t see themselves participating in marijuana markets beyond being a consumer. Kind of like beer. I like beer, and the best beer I ever had came out of the trunk of my good buddy Rich’s car one warm summer evening. But I have zero interest in learning how to brew beer. I know people, in addition to My Good Buddy Rich, who also brew tasty beer, and they’re generally happy to share their bounty with me and others. Finding myself periodically flush with home brew is a happy circumstance for which I’m eternally grateful. But when those people aren’t around or they've become mysteriously stingy with their beer, I can mosey, saunter, or bolt down to my local pub and find something well and truly good enough…sound familiar?
And you’re right, getting licensed is pretty open to most ganjapreneurs, as it should be. No idea what the rules and regs are in our good neighbor to the south, but here in Oregon getting licensed is a fairly straight forward process. But dealing with process and the guvment just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So I think part of the answer to your question is that growing and selling legal weed just isn’t something that most people want to do or even think about doing. Obviously, we have other (really good) ideas.
We’re not the only ones with those “other ideas,” and that means competition and that means the prices stores are willing to pay are being driven down. I’m guessing that trend will continue for a while (probably not so true for the exceptional stuff, but growing the good stuff is not easy…this shit doesn’t actually just fall off of trees in bushel baskets, although some people make it seem that way...does anyone harvest using bushel baskets anymore...I may have to start...that might be fun, although sterilizing those fucking things would be a pain in the ass...I digress, but I do have great memories of bushel baskets and filling them with apricots and peaches). And while the cost/pound is being driven down, from what I can see, the costs for getting into the market keeps going up. This is a problem, bummer, disappointment...pisser...for most people looking into it. If you already have usable growing space then you’re a step ahead of most. But getting into space is expensive and getting more so, and it’s likely this trend that keeps most people who might be seriously interested from moving forward.
If one can work through the cost of space dilemma, then there is the riskiness of starting any business. I don’t think starting a cannabis business in a legal state is that much different than other startups in terms of risk (well maybe it is different, but again, I digress). A lot of us will try and fail, for any number of reasons, and that’s just a simple, unfortunate fact. If you can afford to fail then you’re a second step ahead of the pack. And if you can afford to fail a couple of times, well then, good on you…that’s probably about the right level of planning. (Note to self: If you can't afford to fail...maybe even a couple of times, starting a cannabis bidness probably isn't the best idea you've ever had..."you" is the Royal You, not you specifically, Gwhergis...and that's an interesting name...I quite like it)
cheers,