When Longmont Metropolis Council opted into leisure marijuana gross sales in 2017, the newly shaped native guidelines restricted the city to 4 dispensaries and banned the identical entity from proudly owning multiple retailer. All 4 dispensary licenses had been then awarded to dispensary chains, two of which — Drugs Man and the Inexperienced Answer — had been eventually acquired by Columbia Care Inc., a publicly traded marijuana company in New York.
After sealing the Inexperienced Answer deal in 2020, Columbia Care paid $42 million in a stock-heavy acquisition for Drugs Man earlier this yr, asserting that the deal added “one cultivation facility and 4 dispensaries to Columbia Care’s Colorado operations.” On the time, Drugs Man owned 4 dispensaries in Colorado, with shops in Aurora, Denver, Longmont and Thornton.
Nonetheless, Columbia Care CEO Nicholas Vita did not embrace Longmont among the many cities in his assertion praising the deal, solely itemizing Aurora, Denver and Thornton. And regardless of asserting that the deal added 4 Drugs Man dispensaries to Columbia Care’s portfolio, the corporate now says in an announcement to Westword, “Columbia Care acquired three Drugs Man dispensaries, excluding Longmont, and their cultivation facility within the preliminary transaction, with the choice to amass the fourth dispensary,” including that Drugs Man Longmont remains to be “owned by a separate entity,” and Columbia Care was conscious of Longmont’s native licensing guidelines earlier than buying Drugs Man.
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Vander Veer, who remained the CEO of Drugs Man after the acquisition, declined to touch upon the Longmont transition, referring inquiries to Columbia Care. The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division already lists the Inexperienced Answer underneath Columbia Care possession, whereas Drugs Man’s founding group of Andy Williams, Pete Vasquez and Sally Vander Veer are nonetheless listed as Drugs Man Longmont’s homeowners.
Metropolis of Longmont Public Info Officer Rigo Leal confirms that if Columbia Care closes on Drugs Man in 2022 as publicly supposed, Longmont metropolis code would pressure the Inexperienced Answer’s license to be bought or vacated.
In keeping with Leal, Longmont will settle for new marijuana dispensary purposes or rethink purposes already on file if one of many 4 licenses is vacated or expired. However that course of most likely would not occur if Columbia Care sells the Inexperienced Answer earlier than closing on Drugs Man Longmont.
Though Columbia Care did not say which of the 2 shops can be open underneath firm possession sooner or later, the assertion did allude to strikes within the works.
“We’re within the means of finalizing plans for the market and will likely be making an announcement as quickly as the small print are able to be made public,” the Colombia Care assertion reads.
