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When Apothecary Farms opened a second medical marijuana store in Colorado Springs in 2022, it expected to quickly add retail sales. A ballot question set for that November’s election would legalize recreational marijuana sales in the city and it appeared to be polling well.
The ballot measure ended up failing. It took 2½ years and another ballot measure, but recreational marijuana sales are now on the verge of launching. Apothecary Farms’ two locations are among the 52 medical marijuana stores that applied for a retail marijuana sales license in the last two months and are working to begin selling products soon after the sales legally begin on April 15.
“There are times when we’ve had to turn away more than 20 customers per day,” said Brent McDonald, Apothecary’s marketing and sales director. “They were either from out of state and not coming here regularly or they thought the whole state had recreational.”
The Colorado Springs City Council chose not to allow recreational sales in the city after state voters passed Amendment 64 during the 2012 election. A voter initiative to allow recreational sales in the city passed last November, while a competing ballot measure that would have banned sales in the city charter was rejected.
Three school board presidents within Colorado Springs opposed the measure to legalize the sales, saying retail sales increased the risk of kids using marijuana and getting addicted to it. Other elected officials said the increase in crime from allowing recreational use would offset any benefits from the new sales taxes on the products.
City Council voted to put a repeal question on the April ballot to see if voters wanted to enact the legalization, but the measure was blocked by an El Paso County District Court judge.
Stan Zislis, the co-chief executive officer for the Silver Stem Fine Cannabis franchise, has been involved for years in attempting to get recreational sales passed in the city. The two locations in Colorado Springs are the only ones among Silver Stem’s 11 Colorado stores that are strictly medical marijuana.
“It’s the second-largest market in the state, and I believe it has every potential to become the largest market in the state because of the size of the city and its rate of growth. It’s all very exciting,” Zislis said.
Apothecary Farms is an organic marijuana business that largely sells oils and products from its own growth facilities. The company started in Colorado Springs and has since expanded to 10 locations across Colorado and Oklahoma.
The approved ballot measure only allows existing medical marijuana stores in Colorado Springs to apply for a retail sales license. The new retail sellers must be licensed by the state and the city to begin sales.
Fifteen Colorado Springs stores have received their license from the state Marijuana Enforcement Division as of Wednesday, including the two Silver Stem locations. The Silver Stem locations had pending license approvals in the city business license database, and Zislis was optimistic city staff would issue the final licenses soon.
Zislis saw major opportunities for business growth with the additional sales because of the long decline of medical marijuana demand in the state. Colorado had 61,000 registered patients as of February, according to the Department of Public Health and Environment, the lowest number of patients since the medical centers officially opened in 2010.
Around 22,400 of the registered patients were in El Paso County, making up more than a third of the total medical marijuana patients in Colorado. McDonald said that was largely because it was the only way Colorado Springs residents could buy marijuana in the city without driving to Manitou Springs or farther.
“Medical is in complete decline while recreational is still strong. That’s the light at the end of the tunnel, so it makes total sense for us to add it. We are going to see a serious impact,” McDonald said.
Recreational marijuana sales in the state have dropped in recent years but not as dramatically as medical sales. Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division reported that there were $167 million in medical marijuana sales in 2024, compared to roughly $1.25 billion in general retail marijuana sales.
Apothecary Farms’ newer location on Garden of the Gods Road will add a new register in addition to the expanded products for sale. Three registers will be dedicated to recreational sales while one will remain focused on medical.
Both Apothecary and Silver Stem said they were hiring up to 10 new employees to prepare for the new demand. Most of the new hires will work as “budtenders” who will staff the registers and recommend products to customers.
Colorado Springs’ stores cannot begin stocking shelves or processing retail marijuana products until they receive their final license. Zislis said Silver Stem was planning truck shipments from its Denver facilities to the Springs early the morning of the 15th to have some inventory on hand when it opened its doors.
“I’m sure we will have a line of customers and a line of vendors at the same time trying to stock the shelves,” Zislis said.
The new sales aren’t the only reason marijuana stores are planning for a busy week. The Sunday after the sales officially begin in the city is April 20, also known as the unofficial marijuana holiday 4/20. Zislis said the date has dropped in popularity after recreational use was legalized but it remained one of the busiest weekends of the year.
The two companies said new sales would be good for Colorado Springs financially. During the 2022 election, voters approved a 5% sales tax on future recreational sales that would go into a dedicated city fund. The new fund is required to be used for public safety, mental health services and post-traumatic stress disorder treatment for veterans.
”}]] The first recreational marijuana sales can happen in Colorado Springs on April 15, more than a decade after the state legalized recreational use. Read More
