An Enterprising Team Helps Community-Based Groups Secure Licensing and Approvals to Launch a State’s First Wave of Cannabis Businesses

CLIENT’S CHALLENGE

Several years before one of the nation’s first states to legalize the commercial sale of cannabis formally opened its commercial “floodgates” to cannabis cultivation centers and dispensaries, an enterprising team was working hard to help prospective community-based organizations passionate about cannabis to “get ready to roll.” Never before had state leaders – at least at political, policy, and regulatory levels, not to mention local law enforcement and even banking – had to anticipate and prepare for a tidal change from marijuana as illegal contraband to cannabis as an entirely new legal retail product and supply chain.

This entrepreneurial team recognized these small businesses shared an acute need for technical support and facilitation in crafting complete and compliant applications to the state for approval to build and operate legal cannabis operations. “We viewed our clients as having  ‘social equity’ standing and cannabis operations as a path for good people to benefit from cannabis in a positive way,” said one of this group’s founders. “The problem we can’t seem to solve is that many neighborhoods simply don’t want one of these facilities in their backyard.”

THE STRATEGIA SOLUTION

The Strategia team recognized this challenge as one many entities with legal and legitimate plans, projects, or priorities regularly encounter when dealing with government at any level – from compliance committees to grass-roots, neighborhood representatives. “Simply following the steps on a government website in applying for something like cannabis operations is a recipe for failure,” explains Lissa Druss, Strategia CEO and founder.  “You have to make it easy for key gatekeepers to identify and understand issues way before they’re called upon to approve, delay, or deny action.”

IMPACTS + OUTCOMES

Over months, Strategia helped this entrepreneurial group establish relations with local communities and their government leaders to facilitate cannabis-related licensing for its clients. “When they identified a target town and specific facility, our team helped gathered insights and information on the neighborhood’s willingness to accept a legal cannabis facility in their area,” Druss continues. “Then we visited with their lawmakers, alerted them that the application is in process, and helped them learn about our client, their plans, and how their customers have served as ‘good neighbors’ in other communities.”

Strategia’s facilitation paid off. Briefing government leaders about impending applications and reaching out to communities to encourage dialogue informed by the positive experiences of other neighborhoods and their legal cannabis vendors virtually eliminated “knee-jerk” denials of applications by authorities and, one by one, the application of each one of the organization’s prospective cannabis vendors was approved.