How many cannabis options can a community support before that bubble pops? That question is in front of the Rapid City Council legal and finance committee – though the players may not be who you expect.
Some are advocating for Rapid City to cut the cap of medical dispensary licenses from 15 to 9, but this isn’t explicitly against medical marijuana access.
Michael Graham is the owner of the Black Hills Weed Shop. While he didn’t speak to the committee directly, he submitted a letter to city attorney Joel Landeen outlining what he describes as the dangers of an oversaturated cannabis industry, which he argues will lead to a stronger black market.
One license holder who spoke in support of the letter was Emmett Reistroffer – a founding partner of Genesis Farms Cannabis.
“I just really want to remind everyone that the whole point of this program was access for patients, it wasn’t necessarily business opportunities," Reistroffer said. "While that is a good benefit for some of us and a job opportunity, really right now were looking at 11,333 patients across the state with 77 dispensaries. So, roughly a little over 100 patients per dispensary.”
Reistroffer said 15 licenses for the city would be more appropriate under a fully legal cannabis market, but that opinion isn’t unanimous within the cannabis industry.
Kittrick Jeffries is the owner of Puffy’s LLC. He said this is an attempt to shrink the pie.
“Any licensee that requests to decrease the market competition in their jurisdiction is doing it out of greed," Jeffries said. "It is unfortunate that patient safety was never mentioned and that these business owners are allowing greed to fuel their decision-making process when we are talking about people in dire need of medical care.”
Ultimately a motion to table the discussion was approved 5-0, and the subject will be reassessed at a future meeting.