Andy Williams, Medicine Man. (Photo provided by MSNBC)
Like much about the marijuana experiment in Colorado, the caliber of TV reporting on the subject has matured over the past year. Sure, the latest documentary includes images of smoke-filled Civic Center Park and celebrants hooting at a 4/20 fest. But it also features a high-powered lunch at The Palm with gangapreneurs making deals. Since legalization brought international media to the state a year ago, the quality of coverage of the upstart industry has improved.
No longer confined to quick hits filled with pot puns, shots of leafy plants, thick buds and mountains of cash, the latest pot documentary, “Pot Barons of Colorado” on MSNBC airing Sunday nights (with a sneak peak on Nov. 28), probes the financials in a new way.
takes seriously the ambition of these dispensary owners to become “the Costco of marijuana,” to franchise across multiple states, and to be the lasting names that come out of the end of this Prohibition.
They’re familiar to Denver Post and readers: Andy and Pete Williams of Medicine Man; Jamie Perino of Euflora; Tripp Keber of Dixie Elixirs (an 8-ounce bottle of Dixie Elixirs blueberry or pomegranate soda now sells for $25 and the retailers have a hard time keeping them in stock.); Brian Ruden of Starbuds who likens the moment to “the dot-com boom all over again”; Bob Eschino of Incredibles; Nick Brown of High Country Healing. All are savoring the moment as demand outstrips supply.
Marijuana (Photo provided by MSNBC)
According to the documentary, Brown consistently fields offers for his Silverthorne location, including one for $4 million. A bigger buyer is the owner of a “major corporation you’ve heard of, who wants to buy a small chain of stores for his son.” Another is a Denver financier with $40 million targeted to build a chain of 10 Colorado stores, the basis for a national chain.
MSNBC’s series has five more installments, covering edibles, “The Race for Aurora” and the 24 licenses to be awarded, problems with banking, expansion plans and “The New Normal,” including pot tourism and a Classically Cannabis concert. It’s a moot point now, but the pot barons also share concerns about the state’s gubernatorial race, since losing GOP candidate Bob Beauprez had vowed to repeal Amendment 64 and drive them out of business if he won.
