BROWNSVILLE — Small town residents like and need marijuana, too, said Randy and Gayle Simpson, owners of Green Cross Dispensary, a medical dispensary that opened in early May.
“Probably 80 percent of our customers are from the Brownsville area,” Gayle Simpson said. “The main thing we hear is they’re so glad they don’t have to drive out of the area to get their cannabis.”
The opening of Green Cross Dispensary came after more than three years of effort by the Brownsville City Council to keep pot shops out.Business was initially slow, but things are picking up with the summer, the married couple said. “We were prohibited for so long. People had to find other sources to get their meds from,” Gayle Simpson added.
At the same time, the market was being flooded with recreational marijuana, which became legal July 1, 2015, said manager Debbie Jensen.
The Simpsons are hoping to get a recreational marijuana approval from the city for Green Cross Dispensary, which would result in more customers. The matter will be before the Brownsville Planning Commission at 7 p.m. July 17 at City Hall, 255 N. Main St.
Currently, only Oregon Medical Marijuana Program card holders may purchase cannabis at the Green Cross Dispensary. “We’re turning away more customers than we’re letting in,” Randy Simpson said.
He thinks that medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon are going to disappear because of the rise of recreational pot. Oregon also is tightening OMMP rules to curb the amount of marijuana going to the black market.
Randy Simpson said that switching from a medical dispensary to a recreational pot shop is fairly simple, at least with the state. That’s because dispensaries are more highly regulated by Oregon in regards to surveillance videos, patient records and more.
A recreational dispensary will still be able to sell marijuana to OMMP cardholders, who are exempt from the state sales taxes on cannabis.
The Simpsons, who employ six people, grow all of the marijuana that they sell. And they stressed that with low prices — they regularly sell ounces for sale for $90 — they’re selling for less than what marijuana often would cost on the black market.
Green Cross Dispensary also has oils, cannabis-infused drinks, paraphernalia and more.
In response, in the first days after marijuana became legal, the Simpsons gave away 12 pounds of pot from the storefront, Gayle Simpson said. Ironically, the free pot event would have been illegal for a dispensary to hold.
The city finally had to relent on the Simpsons’ dispensary plans after the November general election. By a vote of 445-442, Brownsville approved the sale of medical and recreational marijuana.
Green Cross Dispensary, 221 W. Bishop Way, is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
credit:democratherald.com
