One of Colorado’s first dispensaries has been sold to a Canadian cannabis company. The chain of The Green Solution dispensaries have been sold to Canadian Columbia Care for $140 million. This sale could foreshadow what is to come with Colorado’s legal cannabis market.

When dispensaries first began to emerge across the United States, they existed on a smaller scale and many were family owned. Now, bigger companies are entering the industry and are buying out dispensaries in many ares. A May 2019 bill allowing for Colorado cannabis dispensaries to be publicly traded has furthered this trend. In the case of The Green Solution, a recreational dispensary, a partnership with Columbia Care, a medical cannabis company blurs the lines between the medical and recreational industries. As one of the largest cannabis companies in Colorado, this change of ownership is monumental for the state, as it makes The Green Solution an international brand.

“It’s definitely going to be more like the Starbucks coming in and buying the smaller coffee shops,” said Marissa Cortes with Higher Yields Consulting. “I think the future looks like less of these mom and pop shops and more of these bigger corporations, like the Walmart and Target of cannabis. It’s a huge deal. It’s the first of what we anticipate will be many of these big sales in Colorado.”

This major shift in Colorado’s cannabis industry is an example of a phenomenon which is observed to be happening globally. When large companies purchase a smaller, family-owned brand, there are often many changes made to the brand. The cannabis industry takes pride on offering high quality, carefully bred products as well as eduction to interested consumers. The dispensary is a place to go for a sense of community and to gain knowledge. Hopefully this does not change under big business.