LittleDabbie
Supporter
- 11,813
- 438
While coupons and promotions are all the rage at marijuana shops throughout Colorado, it’s still rare to find aggressively priced deals on pot just 13 months after legal recreational sales first began.
But a looming regulatory deadline has inspired a fire sale on many cannabis-infused edibles — driving more customers to pot shops than normal.
When new regulations take root on Feb. 1, the companies making and selling recreational edibles can only push products that are compliant with the new rules on packaging and serving size. Since many edibles on pot shop shelves will soon be destroyed if they’re not sold in time, the prices are in customers’ favor.
“I’m running a bunch of ads in magazines and newspapers advertising blowout sales, trying to get stuff moving,” said Jamie Perino, who owns the Euflora marijuana stores in Denver and Aurora. “I’d rather run out and have shelves empty than have a bunch of product on the shelves that needs to be destroyed.”
Marijuana edibles
These pot-infused treats are everywhere: Appetite for edibles in Colorado (45 percent of legal marijuana marketplace) big surprise of 2014
Know your limits: Learn more about the effects of edibles and how to avoid overconsumption
Edibles evolution: Rules are changing, and less potency and more public education are at the forefront
Oversight of edibles: The early months of Colorado’s legal marijuana sales spotlighted several edibles issues, including an independent Denver Post analysis of THC potency in products that revealed big discrepancies
Follow The Cannabist on Twitter and Facebook
Euflora’s normal price on a Dixie Elixir infused drink with 70 milligrams of activated THC: $22.50. Her current price on the soon-to-be-noncompliant Dixie drinks until she closes shop on Jan. 31: $7.
And she’s not alone.
“We are doing 40 percent off all recreational edibles at all of our recreational stores until Feb. 1 so we can offload all the product,” said Brian Keegan, director of retail operations for LivWell, which has nine pot shops in Colorado.
The temporary price cuts are substantial, especially when you consider that the cost of a recreational eighth of marijuana at 12 prominent Colorado pot shops dropped by only 9 percent from January 2014 to December 2014, according to Denver Post data.
Lafayette pot shop Herbal Wellness is pushing “30-40 percent off” on “select edibles and topicals” through “1/31/15,” according to its Facebook page. One of the brands on sale at the suburban Boulder shop: Growing Kitchen, which is looking to sell as much of its old product as possible until close of sale Jan. 31.
“A lot of our vendors are running some great specials,” said Cody Mayasich, a sales lead at Growing Kitchen. “Altitude East and West are doing buy one and get one for a penny deals, and Nature’s Herbs and Wellness is doing the same. It’s a great incentive, and they’re doing a lot of social media.”
The Maureen Dowd edibles saga: Remember when the New York Times columnist came to Colorado and freaked out after eating too much pot candy? Get caught up
Growing Kitchen was already focusing on low-dosage edibles, so its preparation for Feb. 1 was mostly on the packaging end, Mayasich said. But some of the company’s competitors faced issues with recreational edibles that couldn’t work under the new regulations; Dixie’s recreational Colorado Bar with 100 milligrams of THC will become extinct as of Feb. 1.
“Because of these changes in packaging and serving size and potency, a lot of our products are going to change,” said Joe Hodas, the marketing chief at Dixie. “The dispensaries are hesitant to take new product because they won’t be able to sell high-dose products like our Colorado Bar, which is a single serving item that has 100 milligrams, after the end of the month.”
That’s why Dixie is partnering with marijuana chains Euflora and LivWell to offload its old product. Dixie’s wholesale price to Euflora was recently cut by 50 percent, Perino said, with the understanding that she’d keep costs low for her customers. Sure enough, she cut her normal sales price by more than 60 percent.
“Consumers have the ability to find really good deals on edibles that will be going away soon,” said Hodas.
It works out for the shops too. The Growing Kitchen is offloading its older stock with the unusual promise to its vendors that it will exchange unsold inventory with compliant edibles, Mayasich said.
How much is enough? The effects of edibles are different for everybody. Eight tips for getting the right dose
Under the new regulations, edibles being sold recreationally will be individually wrapped or demarked in increments of 10 milligrams (or fewer); the child-resistant packaging requirements for these edibles also become more strict on Feb. 1.
An example of the shift is seen in Dixie’s popular infused mints. The mints used to come loose-packed in a tin, 10 mints at 10 milligrams each. Dixie’s new mints come packed individually in blister packs with 16 mints at 5 milligrams apiece. The move made sense for Dixie so the individual edibles wouldn’t surpass the state’s 10-milligram limit and the whole package wouldn’t go above the state’s 100-milligram limit.
“A lot of us are being conservative when we approach product development,” said Dixie’s Hodas. “Instead of pushing the upper limit of a 100-milligram product, we’d rather put out a 90-milligram product.”
Even though these regulations are costing the edibles industry upwards of millions of dollars, these business owners welcome the added regulation.
“In clearly marking what the dose is, hopefully that will lead to more responsible use and public education,” said John Lord, owner of LivWell, which is selling its 70-milligram Dixies for $5 each instead of the usual $12. “It keeps us safe, and it provides uniformity for the product itself.”
http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/01/29/colorado-marijuana-edibles-fire-sale-regulations-feb-1/28775/
But a looming regulatory deadline has inspired a fire sale on many cannabis-infused edibles — driving more customers to pot shops than normal.
When new regulations take root on Feb. 1, the companies making and selling recreational edibles can only push products that are compliant with the new rules on packaging and serving size. Since many edibles on pot shop shelves will soon be destroyed if they’re not sold in time, the prices are in customers’ favor.
“I’m running a bunch of ads in magazines and newspapers advertising blowout sales, trying to get stuff moving,” said Jamie Perino, who owns the Euflora marijuana stores in Denver and Aurora. “I’d rather run out and have shelves empty than have a bunch of product on the shelves that needs to be destroyed.”
Marijuana edibles
These pot-infused treats are everywhere: Appetite for edibles in Colorado (45 percent of legal marijuana marketplace) big surprise of 2014
Know your limits: Learn more about the effects of edibles and how to avoid overconsumption
Edibles evolution: Rules are changing, and less potency and more public education are at the forefront
Oversight of edibles: The early months of Colorado’s legal marijuana sales spotlighted several edibles issues, including an independent Denver Post analysis of THC potency in products that revealed big discrepancies
Follow The Cannabist on Twitter and Facebook
Euflora’s normal price on a Dixie Elixir infused drink with 70 milligrams of activated THC: $22.50. Her current price on the soon-to-be-noncompliant Dixie drinks until she closes shop on Jan. 31: $7.
And she’s not alone.
“We are doing 40 percent off all recreational edibles at all of our recreational stores until Feb. 1 so we can offload all the product,” said Brian Keegan, director of retail operations for LivWell, which has nine pot shops in Colorado.
The temporary price cuts are substantial, especially when you consider that the cost of a recreational eighth of marijuana at 12 prominent Colorado pot shops dropped by only 9 percent from January 2014 to December 2014, according to Denver Post data.
Lafayette pot shop Herbal Wellness is pushing “30-40 percent off” on “select edibles and topicals” through “1/31/15,” according to its Facebook page. One of the brands on sale at the suburban Boulder shop: Growing Kitchen, which is looking to sell as much of its old product as possible until close of sale Jan. 31.
“A lot of our vendors are running some great specials,” said Cody Mayasich, a sales lead at Growing Kitchen. “Altitude East and West are doing buy one and get one for a penny deals, and Nature’s Herbs and Wellness is doing the same. It’s a great incentive, and they’re doing a lot of social media.”
The Maureen Dowd edibles saga: Remember when the New York Times columnist came to Colorado and freaked out after eating too much pot candy? Get caught up
Growing Kitchen was already focusing on low-dosage edibles, so its preparation for Feb. 1 was mostly on the packaging end, Mayasich said. But some of the company’s competitors faced issues with recreational edibles that couldn’t work under the new regulations; Dixie’s recreational Colorado Bar with 100 milligrams of THC will become extinct as of Feb. 1.
“Because of these changes in packaging and serving size and potency, a lot of our products are going to change,” said Joe Hodas, the marketing chief at Dixie. “The dispensaries are hesitant to take new product because they won’t be able to sell high-dose products like our Colorado Bar, which is a single serving item that has 100 milligrams, after the end of the month.”
That’s why Dixie is partnering with marijuana chains Euflora and LivWell to offload its old product. Dixie’s wholesale price to Euflora was recently cut by 50 percent, Perino said, with the understanding that she’d keep costs low for her customers. Sure enough, she cut her normal sales price by more than 60 percent.
“Consumers have the ability to find really good deals on edibles that will be going away soon,” said Hodas.
It works out for the shops too. The Growing Kitchen is offloading its older stock with the unusual promise to its vendors that it will exchange unsold inventory with compliant edibles, Mayasich said.
How much is enough? The effects of edibles are different for everybody. Eight tips for getting the right dose
Under the new regulations, edibles being sold recreationally will be individually wrapped or demarked in increments of 10 milligrams (or fewer); the child-resistant packaging requirements for these edibles also become more strict on Feb. 1.
An example of the shift is seen in Dixie’s popular infused mints. The mints used to come loose-packed in a tin, 10 mints at 10 milligrams each. Dixie’s new mints come packed individually in blister packs with 16 mints at 5 milligrams apiece. The move made sense for Dixie so the individual edibles wouldn’t surpass the state’s 10-milligram limit and the whole package wouldn’t go above the state’s 100-milligram limit.
“A lot of us are being conservative when we approach product development,” said Dixie’s Hodas. “Instead of pushing the upper limit of a 100-milligram product, we’d rather put out a 90-milligram product.”
Even though these regulations are costing the edibles industry upwards of millions of dollars, these business owners welcome the added regulation.
“In clearly marking what the dose is, hopefully that will lead to more responsible use and public education,” said John Lord, owner of LivWell, which is selling its 70-milligram Dixies for $5 each instead of the usual $12. “It keeps us safe, and it provides uniformity for the product itself.”
http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/01/29/colorado-marijuana-edibles-fire-sale-regulations-feb-1/28775/
