“Monumental” is a word several people used to describe Sunday Dec. 1, the first day of recreational retail marijuana sales in Michigan.
They came in winter gear with camping chairs, games to pass the time and positive attitudes as they waited in hours-long lines to purchase Michigan’s first recreational marijuana.
Three Ann Arbor marijuana shops, Arbors Wellness, Exclusive Brands and Greenstone Provisions, opened about 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 1. Each experienced consistently long lines with customers numbering in the hundreds throughout the day.
First-day marijuana sales among the three stores equaled $221,000, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency reports.
James Daly, the owner of Arbors Wellness, 321 E. Liberty, said his staff served 750 customers throughout the day and turned nearly 50 away when the doors closed, due to Ann Arbor city ordinance rules, at 9 p.m.
As a consolation, the nearly customers stranded in line were given complimentary pre-rolled joints, Daly said.
“We’re very happy with everything,” Daly said. “Everything ran smoothly, the team did a great job and the vibe was very positive.”
While the wait wasn’t nearly as long as of 10 a.m. Monday morning, Daly estimated about 25 people were outside waiting to get in and peruse the merchandise, including flower strains, pre-rolled joints, concentrates, topical products, edibles and hopefully by Tuesday, Dec. 3, vaping products.
Exclusive Brands, 3820 Varsity Dr. appeared to have the longest lines throughout Sunday and served over 200 people as of 1 p.m., according to Narmin Jarrous, Exclusive Brand’s executive vice president of business development. The customers, as of that time, were spending nearly $215 per purchase, she said.
Based on what employees say they sold and what customers said they spent, it’s likely all three marijuana stores generated sales near or in excess of $100,000.
MLive hasn’t been able to reach representatives with Exclusive or Greenstone Provisions for end of day 1 sales information. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency, which tracks all sales, expects to release sales figures Monday, spokesman David Harns said.
None of the three shops experienced shortages and both Exclusive and Arbors Wellness said they are able to keep up with demand for the foreseeable future. MLive couldn’t reach Greenstone Provisions for comment on their supply situation.
Greenline Express, the state’s first transporter licensed to deliver recreational marijuana, made several trips to Arbors Wellness throughout the day with finished product from Arbor Kitchen, a processor located in Ann Arbor.
Exclusive Brands owns its own processing business in the same building as its retail shop, so employees were able to walk over and resupply as needed.
As of Monday, the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency had licensed seven businesses -- five in Ann Arbor, one in Morenci and one in Evart -- for retail sales. It expects at least a dozen to be licensed statewide by the new year.
For most customers, many of whom said they had been consuming black market marijuana for years, Sunday was a day of validation. They now had a sanctioned, mainstream avenue to obtain quality, tested marijuana products.
“I would pay for the extra security of being able to walk into a place and not have to meet someone in a parking lot or something ... I don’t care," said Austin Alliston, a 26-year-old who drove to Arbors Wellness from Belleville and left with a $100 bag of various marijuana products. “ ... They’re all very professional. It’s not like a shady deal that happens behind a liquor store. It’s clean and professional.”
Some of the forefathers of Michigan marijuana legalization -- and casualties of its prohibition -- convened at Arbors Wellness prior to 10 a.m.
It was a celebration and time of reflection. They spoke of the confusion following passage of the medical marijuana law in 2008, a time when rules were unclear, the raids and prosecutions that followed and the slow shift in public and political sentiment that led to licensed legalization Sunday.
John Sinclair makes the first re recreational marijuana purchase at Arbors Wellness in Ann Arbor on Dec. 1, 2019.
Among the legalization pioneers was activist and poet John Sinclair, who in 1969 began serving more than two years of a 10-year sentence that was later overturned for possession of two joints.
Sinclair made a ceremonial purchase of pre-rolled joints before the business opened to the public.
Also in attendance was Ryan Basore, who in 2010, following passage of the medical marijuana law the year prior, opened his Capital City Caregivers dispensary in Lansing.
“It got raided by the feds, the DEA the National Guard and I got four years in federal prison for state-regulated medical marijuana,” Basore said.
He served four years in Virginia’s Morgantown federal prison.
“That’s kind of what it was all for," he said shortly after Sinclair made the state’s first recreational purchase. "If this didn’t happen it would have been all for naught. I let go of any resentment or anger about a year into my stay there and just looked at moving forward and rebuilding and trying to help people.”
Rick Thompson, who created Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine in 2009 with his friend, Rick Ferris, helped operate a group of early dispensaries. He spoke about a 2010 raid by Oakland County sheriff’s deputies at their Oak Park location that resulted in a two-yea prison sentence for Ferris.
“Back then we were all pirates and rebels and outlaws,” Thompson said.
As the first recreational sale to Sinclair was rung up on a laptop MacBook computer, Thompson said he got “chills.”
“Damn it, America is a beautiful place," Thompson said. “And Michigan is more beautiful today."
-- Gus Burns is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact him with questions, tips or comments at fburns@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, @GusBurns. Read more from MLive about medical and recreational marijuana.
More on MLive:
Marijuana customers celebrate in Ann Abror
Customers share buying experience
Activist John Sinclair makes first recreational marijuana purchase
First customers camped out overnight
Newly licensed marijuana shop thrives on Ohio customers
Recreational marijuana sales to begin after 10 a.m. Sunday
What to expected in recreational marijuana shops
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