Edgewater businesses, officials pleased with marijuana businesses

Master gardener Matthew Lopez trims off small limbs from a mother plant as he clones a strain of cannabis called Qush at Northern Lights grow facility in Denver on March 27. (Seth McConnell, YourHub)

EDGEWATER Three months after Edgewater became the first city in Jefferson County to open retail marijuana shops, business owners and city officials say business is booming and nary a problem has been reported.

"We wanted to make sure we got it right the first time and wouldn't have to keep coming back to fix things," said Edgewater Mayor Bonnie McNulty.

Edgewater police chief John Hough said his department hasn't gotten a single complaint or call to any one of the city's four pot shops.

"We do extra patrol checks at the dispensaries every night," Hough said. "I've done a number of walk-throughs and they have everything in place and have been very cooperative and willing to work with us."

Two of the existing medical marijuana dispensaries converted to retail on Jan. 1. Northern Lights Cannabis Co., 2045 Sheridan Blvd., went into dual retail and medical sales, while Bud Med Health Center, 2517 Sheridan Blvd., dropped medical sales to focus entirely on retail.

"We were slammed with retail sales, and this is a small space and there's so many more rules about running a dual shop, like not crossing inventory, that we decided to focus entirely on retail," said Ashley Easton, Bud Med manager.

Both stores said they knew there'd be high demand for retail product but were floored at the amount of people who stood in line for hours the first week.

"It was like nothing I could have anticipated," said Eva Woolhiser, co-owner of Northern Lights Cannabis Co. "The excitement, the adrenaline at being a part of history. Everyone that came through the door couldn't believe they had this opportunity."

Other retail stores in the mix include New Age Medical, 2553 Sheridan Blvd., which began retail sales on March 28 to complement its existing medical side, and Greenwerkz Medical at 5840 W. 25th Ave., which hopes to begin offering retail by May.

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Edgewater businesses, officials pleased with marijuana businesses