\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAs California\u2019s recreational cannabis market marks 10 years, a Sacramento dispensary owner says the industry has become more established \u2014 but significant challenges remain.For cannabis businesses, April 20 is one of the busiest days of the year. At Crystal Nugs in Sacramento, CEO Maisha Bahati said customer traffic was steady throughout the day.\u201cWe\u2019ve had a line since we opened at 9 a.m. It\u2019s been consistent,\u201d Bahati said.This year\u2019s 4\/20 celebration comes as California marks a decade of legal recreational marijuana. Voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, legalizing adult-use cannabis in the state.Bahati said the industry has changed dramatically over that time.\u201cIt\u2019s really business now,\u201d Bahati said.She said tighter oversight and higher expectations have reshaped how cannabis companies operate.\u201cEveryone has expectations, making sure your business is running correctly,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s tightened up as far as how you run these businesses.\u201dBahati said one of the biggest challenges has been balancing compliance in a highly regulated industry while still serving customers effectively. She said communication with local leaders has been critical.\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of communication with our city leaders to ensure that, ‘Hey, we\u2019re doing a good job here,’\u201d Bahati said. \u201cLet\u2019s open up some more opportunities, or even voicing our concerns, or maybe what\u2019s not working. ‘Hey, how can we get this to work better?’\u201dTaxes remain one of the biggest threats to survival for cannabis operators, Bahati said, adding that many businesses that launched around the same time as hers are no longer operating.\u201cThe taxes have been really tough,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cAnd again, you don\u2019t want to raise prices on your customers because then they\u2019ll go to the black market. You don\u2019t want that to happen.\u201dSince the passage of Proposition 64, the state says it has cleared more than 215,000 cannabis convictions, disrupted more than $1.2 billion in illicit cannabis activity, and used cannabis tax revenue to help fund local projects.Despite the hurdles, Bahati said she is optimistic about the future, especially the possibility of cannabis consumption lounges in Sacramento.\u201cWe\u2019re trying to appeal to the area we\u2019re in,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be upscale. We\u2019re going to appeal to, like, the celebrity clientele.\u201dBahati said her business is prepared if the city allows those lounges to move forward.\u201cWe have positioned ourselves very well,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cWe\u2019re just waiting for the green light.\u201dFor now, she said, she remains encouraged by the direction of both the city and the industry.\u201cThe industry is growing, Sacramento is growing,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cAnd so I think that we welcome all that.\u201dAlthough cannabis is legal in California, cities and counties still have the authority to ban cannabis businesses, creating a patchwork across the state where licensed retailers are allowed in some communities and prohibited in others.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
As California\u2019s recreational cannabis market marks 10 years, a Sacramento dispensary owner says the industry has become more established \u2014 but significant challenges remain.<\/p>\n
For cannabis businesses, April 20 is one of the busiest days of the year. At Crystal Nugs in Sacramento, CEO Maisha Bahati said customer traffic was steady throughout the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a line since we opened at 9 a.m. It\u2019s been consistent,\u201d Bahati said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s 4\/20 celebration comes as California marks a decade of legal recreational marijuana. Voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, legalizing adult-use cannabis in the state.<\/p>\n
Bahati said the industry has changed dramatically over that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really business now,\u201d Bahati said.<\/p>\n
She said tighter oversight and higher expectations have reshaped how cannabis companies operate.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has expectations, making sure your business is running correctly,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s tightened up as far as how you run these businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bahati said one of the biggest challenges has been balancing compliance in a highly regulated industry while still serving customers effectively. She said communication with local leaders has been critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of communication with our city leaders to ensure that, ‘Hey, we\u2019re doing a good job here,’\u201d Bahati said. \u201cLet\u2019s open up some more opportunities, or even voicing our concerns, or maybe what\u2019s not working. ‘Hey, how can we get this to work better?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Taxes remain one of the biggest threats to survival for cannabis operators, Bahati said, adding that many businesses that launched around the same time as hers are no longer operating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe taxes have been really tough,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cAnd again, you don\u2019t want to raise prices on your customers because then they\u2019ll go to the black market. You don\u2019t want that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the passage of Proposition 64<\/a>, the state says it has cleared more than 215,000 cannabis convictions, disrupted more than $1.2 billion in illicit cannabis activity, and used cannabis tax revenue to help fund local projects.<\/p>\n Despite the hurdles, Bahati said she is optimistic about the future, especially the possibility of cannabis consumption lounges in Sacramento.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to appeal to the area we\u2019re in,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be upscale. We\u2019re going to appeal to, like, the celebrity clientele.\u201d<\/p>\n Bahati said her business is prepared if the city allows those lounges to move forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have positioned ourselves very well,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cWe\u2019re just waiting for the green light.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, she said, she remains encouraged by the direction of both the city and the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThe industry is growing, Sacramento is growing,\u201d Bahati said. \u201cAnd so I think that we welcome all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Although cannabis is legal in California, cities and counties still have the authority to ban cannabis businesses, creating a patchwork across the state where licensed retailers are allowed in some communities and prohibited in others.<\/p>\n See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As California\u2019s recreational cannabis market marks 10 years, a Sacramento dispensary owner says the industry has become more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[119981,14852,119975,76037,7,119976,41915,14211,119973,119979,21403,119978,119974,119977,4489,121,119980,123,122,225,29860],"class_list":{"0":"post-278115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-adult-use-cannabis","9":"tag-andres-valle","10":"tag-bahati","11":"tag-c","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-cannabis-business","14":"tag-city-leader","15":"tag-communication","16":"tag-crystal-nugs","17":"tag-customer-traffic","18":"tag-industry","19":"tag-legal-recreational-sale","20":"tag-m","21":"tag-on10-year","22":"tag-proposition","23":"tag-sacramento","24":"tag-sacramento-dispensary-ceo","25":"tag-sacramento-headlines","26":"tag-sacramento-news","27":"tag-state","28":"tag-taxis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}