Legalization of cannabis in Oklahoma was and is a dream come true for countless budding entrepreneurs. A cash crop with limitless potential, and how hard can it really be to get things going with a little money and some elbow grease?
The answer? Hard. Expensive. Drama filled. And? At the end of the day it has all the same challenges, requirements, funding issues, personnel problems, regulatory issues, and downfalls of every other business–with more than a few unique industry specific problems thrown on top.
I know this because I’ve been representing growers, processors and dispensaries since it was legalized in Washington State. I went to law school in Seattle, later became a prosecutor, and ironically even worked on the South King County Narcotics Task force where I prosecuted multi-million dollar cannabis proceed seizures before I went into private practice. Once it became legal in Washington, several of my farm/ranch legal clients started cannabis operations to save the family homestead, hence I learned the industry from the ground up. After a decade on the coast, I returned to my roots and started a legal practice in Oklahoma while farming and ranching. I still advised Washington clients from afar, though I never expected Oklahoma to legalize. When 788 passed, I decided to put my behind the scenes experience to work and started a grow and processing facility on the family ranch.
Since then, I can say with some authority I’ve made just about every mistake humanly possible in this industry. It was more expensive than I anticipated, people were less reliable, and the time required was overwhelming. I’ve also seen those mistakes through, corrected course, and have come to a place where the businesses are successfully operating (Ethos Agriculture, Jake’s Jungle, and Element Reserve). For those about to start on this path, here are my cautions:
- Cheap greenhouses are a bad idea. You will see hundreds of them driving along about any road in Oklahoma–most are destined to fail. They are a mess, impossible to cool, even more impossible to dehumidify. While you can get two crops a year of processable material, you will fight bugs, powdery mildew, mold, weather, and wind on a scale unheard of in California, Washington, Colorado, or Oregon. If you want to grow a quality product, start with a small indoor operation. If you want to process, greenhouses can be great. It’s possible to grow quality product in greenhouses (blackout, high end, loads of ac/dehu) but it’s also really, really hard.
- Don’t go cheap on your a/c. You will need a 1/2 ton of ac per 1000 watt light in this state…no exceptions. We are hot. We are humid. Temperature control is key.
- Don’t go cheap on your dehu. You will need 30 pints of dehumidification per 1000 watt light (Anden or Quest, no alibaba knockoffs).
- Most people in this industry are flakey and will perform 50% of what they promise if you are lucky. While every business arena has its fair share of people who make big claims and fail to follow through, in cannabis it is the rule, not the exception. Do not believe the “expert” who says he can grow better product than anyone else in the country. If he could, he wouldn’t be knocking on your door. Pay people cash for performance–don’t give away interests in the business until people have proven themselves.
- Growing quality product is about discipline, attention to detail, and cleanliness along with adhering to basic rules regarding light control, nutrient administration, genetic selection, and temperature/air/co2 monitoring. It is not an art, it is not about some ethereal connection to the plant, and no one has a secret sauce.
- You should be spending a huge amount of time on compliance–at least as much as any other area of your grow. Metrc is a lot of work if done correctly. So is proper harvesting, tagging, tracking, manifest/invoice creation, cash handling, etc. I love Ron Durbin’s suit, I hope it flies, but no matter what the outcome you will have to track product correctly. Don’t wait.
- Start small. Make your mistakes on a micro scale before you throw hundreds of thousands of dollars into a project. I personally love reefer containers as a great, relatively cheap way to get into growing without breaking the bank.
- Involve as few partners as possible. Every decisionmaker added to a business exponentially increases the likelihood of breakup/failure.
If you need assistance with licensing, corporate structure, budgeting, buildout plans, or any other aspect of your grow or processing operation, I charge flat rate monthly fees for ongoing assistance.