![]() While the overall financial haul is substantial for an industry still in its infancy, it doesn’t begin to capture the impact of cannabis in the state. More than $1 million of that tax revenue will come from CHC, which is considered a midsize weed business. “For every person you bump into at the front of the store, there are four more making the magic in the back.” Since recreational shops started selling cannabis on January 1, CHC’s team has produced about 2,000 retail plants and turned the end products into everything from traditional, smokable pot to vaporizer-pen oils, topical creams, and edibles.Ĭombined with medical marijuana-which has been available to Red Card holders at licensed dispensaries since 2010-recreational pot in Colorado is estimated to pull in $47.7 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2014 off $400 million in sales. “It’s like Disney World,” says CHC grow manager Greg Fortemps. Among the superstars will be 4045, one plant among many that will help make the owners of this business very, very rich.Īt Colorado Harvest Company’s grow site in Denver, 45 people care for the sprawling subdivisions of green-pruning, spraying, and feeding hundreds of marijuana plants each day until the buds eventually are cut, trimmed by hand, cured, dried, packaged, and sold. Five months later, the survivors from Box 4 will be packaged and sold. ![]() In two weeks, the clones will be transplanted into small containers. One by one, the STD clones and stoppers are put into their temporary homes, followed by others with names such as Jack-47, Herojuana, Juicy Fruit, and Sour Kush. The clones are then plugged into Box 4, an aeroponic setup made from plastic and PVC pipe that holds up to 77 future plants and looks like a massive block of Swiss cheese. She dabs nutrient-rich purple goop at the base of each of the freshly cut clones and pops rubber stoppers around the middles. She grabs more clones and repeats the process. These last two cuts are where the plant’s roots will grow. Imperi uses a razor blade to make a 45-degree slice across the base, then makes a vertical cut an inch higher. She trims a couple of leaves near the bottom, then cuts a half-inch off the tops of the two leaves she keeps. Imperi collects her 10 Strawberry Diesel clones in a plastic beaker, sets it on a bench, and pulls out the first clone. For cannabis companies like CHC and its sister business, Evergreen Apothecary, whose combined revenues are estimated to reach $7 million this year, anything less than perfection is pot heresy. ![]() Pick the wrong plant to clone or fail to prepare it properly, and the results-anything from mold to mite infestations to less-than-stellar bud-can kill the bottom line. Taking a marijuana plant through its three-and-a-half- to five-month grow cycle is a time-intensive, exacting job from the first day. In less than a minute, a small bouquet of jagged-edged leaves blooms from her hand. She searches the mother plant for nine more “clones” and squeezes the clippers again and again. Imperi makes a cut, and the first five-inch clipping falls away. The space is bathed in cool light, which casts a bluish-green glow over the 220 marijuana plants lined up in the back room of this warehouse on Denver’s southwest side. “The cost that’s passed on to the health care system, to our schools, to our correctional facilities … far exceeds any economic benefit from ”Ĭolorado Springs’ reputation both as a military town and as the health-minded headquarters of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee have also been used as primary reasons opponents use for reasons the city’s voters should defeat passage of the ballot measures.Tim Cullen (above left) and Ralph Morgan (above right), who became business partners in the summer of 2011, are the two men behind Colorado Harvest Company and Evergreen Apothecary. “We’re doing fantastic from an economic standpoint in Colorado Springs,” Suthers said. He said he believes recreational marijuana has led to an increase in crime, homelessness and addiction to harder drugs. Mayor John Suthers has long been outspoken in his opposition to the ballot measures as well. ![]() The city council reaffirmed its stance against recreational dispensaries, passing a resolution 6-3 opposing passage of the two marijuana ballot questions. ![]() Those most prominently against the passage of Question 300 include the city’s top leaders. ![]()
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