Debra Borchardt
As Arizona’s medical marijuana patient population grows, more companies are looking to expand in the state, while existing companies will no doubt fight to stay on top.
The patient population is now up to 136,515 patients as of July 2017 according to the Arizona Department of Health. This is more than the state of Colorado, which only has 91,658 active medical marijuana patients as of last month. 65% of the Arizona patients are new applications and the most common ailment is chronic pain.
Baked Bros edible company is in over 70 licensed dispensaries – the most of any other edible. The company has two key products – a medicated gummy and a pourable THC syrup that is like a tincture. “We don’t want to be mediocre at many products, but prefer to be great at one or two,” said Nadeem Al-Hasan, a founding partner of Baked Bros. Their products have won awards from High Times, AZ Marijuana, Cann Awards and named a Best of Phoenix winner. Since founding the company in 2015, Baked Bros. has grown 130% each year and experienced 133% growth in gross sales from 2016 to 2017.
The latest business to announce their plans to enter the state is Colorado-based edible brand Wana Brands. It signed an agreement with Florida-based AltMed to sell the products in Arizona. The company has a medical product called WanaCapsXR that comes in a pill form and is timed-release medicine. Wana hopes to be in the market by the end of the year.
Mergers are also happening in Arizona among the dispensaries as cultivators like Harvest merged with Modern Flower to become the largest operator in the state. So, it will be critical for Baked Bros to hold onto its place as a leader. Al-hasan said that his company visits two to three dispensaries a week offering training and education to the customers about the Baked products.
Baked Bros co-founder Thomas Rimbach also pointed out that the company offers a money back guarantee on their product as the most consistent edible in the state. The product is made in small batches and is tripled tested for pesticides, fungus and accuracy in labeling. Even though the company is strong in Arizona, it is working towards expanding and selling products in California.
While Arizona doesn’t have legalized adult-use marijuana, a group called Safer Arizona is working towards a ballot initiative for 2018. If that happens, Al-Hasan said they will participate in that market as well.
