Oklahoma dispensaries navigate new challenges amid state crackdown on illegal Marijuana grows
Some legal marijuana businesses in Edmond say they're being impacted by the state's crackdown on illegal grows.
Get Bak'd Weed Dispensary marketing manager Richard King tells Fox 25 that new regulations have changed the way his business operates.
"From a small business standpoint, I can see it being very, very challenging," King said. "It's always evolving. It's always moving."
King says new Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) regulations have changed how his business handles their packaging.
"With the new laws, how they came, you need to not be able to see the product. Whether it be a concentrate, edible, vape or anything like that."
The dispensary also follows strict signage guidelines.
"Not being able to display medicinal benefits. Not saying that it does this, but it does have benefits. So not being able to display the positives of cannabis. That has impacted [us]."
Just down the road, Likewise Cannabis owner Corbin Wyatt says updated rules might cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"We've recently purchased a new grow operation," Wyatt said. "With some of the changes they've made to transferring ownership, they may require that we shut down that business. That was not the case when we purchased the business."
It's a challenge that changes his business approach.
"We're always treading lightly, and making sure we're paying very close attention to what's going on."
Staying vigilant has helped both dispensaries during an unsettling time in the industry.
"We're always doing our best to find direction, even when direction isn't necessarily as open as we need it to be."
"There's a few challenges, but it's nothing that we haven't been able to overcome," King said.
