A couple of weeks ago, a marijuana dispensary called Budr Cannabis, not far from where I live had it’s Grand Opening.  Connecticut legalized marijuana last year, and the first dispensaries are opening up around now.  As I drove back from getting groceries, I decided to check it out.

There was a festival like atmosphere at Budr, with local news reporters and a table of free food outside the dispensary.  There was a line to get in as expected for an opening day.  I waited in the line, and entered a lobby.  There, a person behind a desk asked for my ID to make sure I was eligible to enter the dispensary (the legal age for marijuana is 21).  I had to wait a moment afterwards so someone could unlock the door to let me in the main store.  In Connecticut, all dispensaries are required to have a tight security. 

Afterward, they unlocked the door with a keypad, and I went inside.  Customers could either wait in line and order cannabis products from employees behind the counter, or there were kiosks where you pick things yourself.  I went to a kiosk, and I saw that at Budr, they sold buds, pipes, joints, and edibles, such as Gummies.

I was struck by how Budr was basically like any other business or package store.  It was nothing like what you would see in the movies or T.V shows.  There were no hippies smoking joints in a hazy room with their eyes all red.  It was a professional setting. 

The other thing I noticed was the type of people in line who were buying the different cannabis products. It was a diverse crowd, both in ethnicity and age.  One of the store’s co-owners is by an African-American named Derrick Gibbs, and is in walking distance from a neighborhood with a lot of minorities.  That is promising because many of the concerns raised about legalizing marijuana were that minorities who were targeted by the criminalization of marijuana would not get the benefits of the commercialization of cannabis. 

I hope Budr Cannabis continues to have great success, and that maybe someday, I will buy something there.