Marijuana is now legal in Seattle, and business is booming. The second marijuana store opened in the city on Monday, and waiting outside was a long line of customers waiting to get high. The reason for opening this late after the law was passed a month ago was to make sure the store had enough to meet demand.
The store, which goes by the name, Herbal Nation, is a 750-square-foot weed chamber for all those folks who are looking to touch the cloud, if even just for a little bit. It appears the people behind Herbal Nation made the correct choice in delaying the launch to meet demand, as the first store to launch, Cannabis City, was forced to shut down after.
"We didn't want to open and close because we ran out," a spokesman said.
It only took 3 days for Cannabis City to go out of business after launch, because the store was flooded with customers who bought every little drop of marijuana. At the moment, Cannabis City is still out of the product, but the store is still offering paraphernalia.
Despite the amount folks coming out to purchase marijuana in Washington, sales in the state have been lower than in Colorado, which has seen the rise of around 240 stores. So far, Washington has only approved 38 store locations across the state, but this done under a heavily regulated taxed system.
This heavy regulation might be the reason why many stores are not popping up on the grid. If this continues, then someone sitting at the top would have to ease on the heavy regulation and the amount of tax placed on these stores.
Of all the 38 stores, only 18 have reported some form of marijuana sales, but it doesn't appear as if things are going according to plan.
Washington is doing its utmost best to ramp up its medical marijuana infrastructure. Officials believe the reason Colorado is ahead is because its infrastructure was already in place, so it was easy for the state to transfer products to the retail sector.
At the end of the day, however, we believe that due to the taxes and the high regulations, some folks will still sell marijuana illegally since chances are they might have better prices. The weed man isn't going anywhere; he's already preparing the latest catchy name for the next product.
