Tag: crystal nugs

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Sacramento’s first Black woman-owned cannabis storefront dispensary opens in midtown

By: Orko Manna

The CORE program is meant to remove barriers of entry into the cannabis industry for people in communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento’s first Black woman-owned storefront cannabis dispensary just opened, due in large part to the city’s Cannabis Opportunity Reinvestment and Equity (CORE) program.

Crystal Nugs is the fourth storefront dispensary to open as a member of the CORE program. CEO Maisha Bahati said Crystal Nugs, which started as a delivery service, would have never been able to expand to a physical store in midtown without the city’s help.

I wouldn’t have this opportunity if the CORE program did not exist,” Bahati said. “I’ve received loans and grants close to $200,000. I received waivers on our business operating permit. I’ve received technical assistance and just support.”

The CORE program is meant to remove barriers of entry into the cannabis industry for people in communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. This includes Black and brown communities who were disparately arrested for cannabis-related offenses or lived in neighborhoods that were over-policed for drugs.

“It’s really difficult to get into the cannabis industry,” Bahati said. “The costs to get in are huge, and so you need assistance and that’s what the CORE program essentially does. It provides you with the assistance that will help you further your career in cannabis.”

The CORE program was created in 2018. In 2020, the Sacramento City Council approved 10 new storefront dispensary permits, increasing the number of storefront permits allowed in the city from 30 to 40. Crystal Nugs is the fourth business out of the 10 that received permits to open a storefront.

Davina Smith, the program manager for the City of Sacramento’s Office of Cannabis Management, said the CORE program helps with everything from education to advertising, to networking opportunities – and, of course, funding.

“It’s sort of an organic, living program,” Smith said. “It’s pretty expensive and time-consuming to break into and actually operate a regulated cannabis business, and so, the idea is to break down those barriers, try to reduce costs.”

Smith said the six other businesses are on track to open storefront dispensaries, but they must open by April 1, 2024.

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Sacramento dispensaries see high number of customers, big sales on Green Wednesday

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

There’s a new kind of celebration attached to the Thanksgiving holiday week, and it is centered around cannabis consumption.

Green Wednesday is the marijuana industry’s big sales day, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some Sacramento dispensaries are seeing a lot of green from the aptly named day.

Several people crowded around the counter at NUG Sacramento, waiting for their weed. The high demand at the downtown Sacramento dispensary is a result of Green Wednesday.

“It’s been busy all day, actually. It’s our marijuana industries, our Black Friday, per say,” NUG Sacramento general manager Jonathyn Newsom said.

Newsom said the Thanksgiving-adjacent sales day has been all the buzz for a couple years now. Compared to a normal day, it is bringing double the amount of cannabis customers into his shop.

“I want to say maybe this is the second year that I’ve seen it in effect. This year, more or less, being in full effect,” Newsom said.

With the menu full of discounted pot products, NUG “budtenders” were barely able to catch their breath Wednesday.

“It has been pretty crazy, nonstop,” Budtender Eric Comacho said.

Comacho says customers have been telling him and fellow budtenders why they are buying cannabis ahead of Thanksgiving. Many have said that they plan to treat the holiday madness with marijuana.

“A lot of people are coming just because they know they’re going home to visit their families, so that’s definitely the number one reason I’ve been hearing,” Comacho said.

From flowers to vapes to edibles, NUG said all of its products flew off the shelves Wednesday. But they are not the only dispensary in Sacramento that saw that happen.

A Therapeutic Alternative, another joint in town, saw about 50% more pot patrons on Green Wednesday this year.

“We had some doorbuster sales in the morning that were gone within an hour of opening,” A Therapeutic Alternative Director of Education Hezekiah Allen said.

Allen said for A Therapeutic Alternative, Green Wednesday is more than just items on a menu. It is a sign that the “cloud of smoke” around the cannabis industry is lifting.

“It’s been a long journey to get to legalization, to get to normalization, and to have this sort of attention and to have the sort of tradition focused on the holiday is really encouraging and empowering,” Allen said.

NUG agrees.

“It’s showing how far cannabis is coming and how it’s being normalized,” Newsom said.

Newsom says it is a step in the right direction – and a way to save green, on green, for Thanksgiving. 

Some dispensaries tell KCRA 3 their deals will continue through Black Friday and even Cyber Monday.

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24 Cities Sue State Over Regulations, Trying To Put An End To Pot Delivery

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) — Two-dozen municipalities across California coming together to try to put an end to pot deliveries. Eleven local cities from Solano to Stanislaus counties have joined the lawsuit.

The state policy says marijuana companies can drive around and make home deliveries anywhere in the state, but leaders from 24 cities now want local control over who can deliver and where. Some marijuana companies say regulating deliveries will put the brakes on their businesses for good.

Maisha Bahati is co-owner of a new marijuana business: “Crystal Nugs.” The company only does delivery.

“We fought to get here. It took us two and a half years to get here,” Bahati said.

The Bureau of Cannabis Control developed delivery regulation over a two-year period.

“Everything is regulated to a ‘T.’ Everything is tested multiple times,” Bahati said.

She says the state also requires her to put her product on lockdown, literally. Every delivery has to be under lock and key in the back of her delivery car. She worries if the lawsuit passes, delivery businesses like hers won’t survive.

“That would certainly limit the radius that we could deliver. That could kill a new cannabis business overnight,” Bahati said.

She also worries about her clients who don’t drive and would somehow have to get to a dispensary.

“More so it hurts the consumers who rely on cannabis products. There are a lot of elderly that call us every week,” she said.

Two of the cities in the lawsuit are Ceres and Dixon. We spoke to city managers from both towns who call state-run delivery a “fatal flaw” for cannabis control.

“That’s not really the real local control we were looking for, and promised, with prop 64,” said Dixon City Manager Jim Lindley.

Ceres has two dispensaries, Dixon has one. Those businesses have local permits, but also relationships with leaders and law enforcement. These city managers say delivery drivers do not.

“With a delivery, we have no idea who is doing the delivery.  How is that person vetted? Who is the actual person doing the delivery? We’re not opposed to the delivery service at all. We just think the delivery service needs to be regulated like the rest of the industry,” said Toby Wells, Ceres City Manager.

The lawsuit was served to the Bureau of Cannabis Control on Tuesday. Leaders with the state-run organization said the public voted clearly for statewide delivery in 2016. Unless a Judge halts these services while the case is pending, drivers can continue to deliver.