A look at one company's 10 years in Colorado's recreational marijuana industry
It's been 10 years since Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use, setting the tone for changes across the country that continue today.
While the initial boom of the industry has passed, Colorado has seen billions of dollars in marijuana sales and tax revenue.
Boulder-based Wana Brands launched as the industry was budding and continues to see success in the edible market. In its test kitchen, the cooks are using cannabis.
"Fifteen, 20 minutes, and then we are ready to demold and taste them," explained Mike Hennesy, Wanna Brand chief innovation officer.
One of the first marijuana edible companies to launch when recreational sales started in 2014, Wana Brands can now deliver a formulated gummy targeting issues such as insomnia or anxiety.
"This is a pretty new, exciting take on some gummies that we have never tried before." Hennesy said.
As Wana Brands CIO, Hennesy is the company's idea man — a long way from where he began in shipping.
"This was my first role in the industry," Hennesy said. "I had come out with a college degree and wanted to get involved in the cannabis industry."
What started as a one-room operation is now an international brand — one of the nearly 1,000 licensed marijuana retailers in the state.
Altogether, Colorado dispensaries have seen more than $15 billion in sales since 2014.
"Generally, between [3,000] and 5,000 gummies a day, so we are able to do a lot of volume," Hennesy said.
He has seen a lot of change to the industry over that time including smarter regulations.
While the company has always tested the amount of THC in its product, not everyone did, and consumers didn't know how much they were ingesting.
"You would hear in the early days of the cannabis industry of wildly inaccurately dosed products," Hennesy said, "We've come a very long way."
Technology, Hennesey says, has helped eliminate some of those issues. Today, success, he says, is about continuing to innovate and work on developing new, more pointed products.
Since Colorado and Washington first legalized recreational sales of marijuana, 24 more states have joined. One Chance to Grow Up is a nonprofit in Colorado advocating for child safety in marijuana policy, and it hopes it can be a resource for those just starting down the path.
"There is a proliferation of marijuana products that are infused with THC that look like cookies, candies, gummies etc," nonprofit spokesman Alton Dillard shared with CBS Colorado in a statement. "The fruity flavors and colorful packaging are appealing to kids. Sleek vaporizers are highly potent and easily concealable. In addition, the regulatory structure isn't keeping up and in fact continues to expand with home delivery, marijuana consumption rules with no state limits on the amount of licenses."
"There needs to be more public education around the dangers to bridge the gap of education of adults and kids of youth marijuana consumption," Dillard's statement continued. "More states have legalized since Colorado did and we continue to offer ourselves up as a resource. Our sole agenda is protecting kids. The laws, regulations and rules already on the books in Colorado need to be enforced. We need a tight regulatory framework that doesn't allow for products with intoxicating levels of THC to be sold just anywhere, and make sure the delivery model doesn't circumvent the safeguards that we've worked on for years to keep kids away from marijuana products. People need to be aware that today's marijuana products are not the ditch weed that they may remember."
