Growers Grow, Part 1: Observations of the business ecology of cannabis dispensaries and growers in the Ocean State

Let’s face it. – if not for the growers, there would be no weed for sale in any Ocean State dispensaries. Of course, there is the intrepid home grown culture, but really, with each home grower limited to only six plants, there would never be a sufficient supply of weed to meet the demand.

This past April, I published an article in Motif about the vibes at the seven dispensaries around the state. The people running cannabis dispensaries are not strangers to the intricacies of maintaining public relations, which made for an easy interview process.

After the publication of the dispensary article, I decided to pry behind the scenes and into the business of growers themselves. I quickly realized I was tackling a topic where the business ecology of the growers was entirely different from the business ecology of the dispensaries. For starters, it is challenging to make
contact with cannabis growers. This is because, in my view, growers generally don’t worry about public
relations. The growers grow. Growers deal with people related to regulation and local politics; however, their job is much different from the kind of public relationships that dispensaries deal with.

Even when growing operations have a website and internet presence, few have a contact page, much less an email address for managers or even a phone number. I mentioned this to one of my earlier dispensary contacts. They confirmed my suspicions. Again, growers grow. They have their facilities, employees, and products to worry about. Dealing with a writer who wants to chat about material for an article in some magazine is far from being on their top ten list of things to do.

Then I had a breakthrough. Cammie Giarrusso at Sweet Spot Dispensary kindly put me in contact with Jason Calderon at Bonsai Buds. Sweet Spot and Bonsai are neighbors. They reside on a hill along the South County Trail or RI Route 2 in Exeter. Jason and I bounced around a couple of emails and scheduled a time to visit Bonsai. Jason met me at the grow facility and proceeded to converse about all thing’s cannabis. He agreed that the growers and dispensaries are pretty much like two silos, except for their
connections to transfer product from the farm to the store.

The vibe inside Bonsai was all business – the wonderful, pungent aroma of oxygen saturated with cannabis terpenes.

Lenny Brennan (Motif): What is the name of your business?
Jason Calderon (JC): Bonsai Buds Inc.
LB: What is your role or job title?
JC: Vice President, Chief Executive Officer
LB: How long has Bonsai Buds been growing legal cannabis in RI?

JC: Seven years. Bonsai has been operating since June 2017

LB: Did you see an increase in demand for cannabis after it became legal for recreational adult use in December, 2022? If so, by approximately what percent?

JC: With the implementation of recreational cannabis, we have seen a better than 50% increase in
cannabis sales.
LB: I have read that there are plans to eventually have up to 30 cannabis dispensaries in RI. The current ratio of 7 dispensaries to about 60 growers makes me wonder if the current cannabis growing capacity can meet this potential increase in demand?

JC: We have enough cultivators to support the future expansion to 30 stores.

LB: Do you have exclusive relationships with certain cannabis dispensaries, or do you sell to any or all of the 7 dispensaries in the Ocean State?

JC: Bonsai currently supplies to all the existing dispensaries in RI.
LB: If you could change one thing about cannabis law or policy in RI, what would it be?
JC: The policy I wish would change is the right of cultivators to advertise as dispensaries do.

As an ecologist and retired professor, I know the limitations of making any inference from data when the sample size is only based on one observation – or one grow operation. •

Photo courtesy of sweetspotfarms.com