Durango’s first recreational marijuana shop was shut down a few hours after it opened Friday because of a product-testing glitch.
The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division shut down sales at Durango Organics and Wellness Center hours after they began Friday, The Durango Herald reported.
Co-owner Jonny Radding told the newspaper there was a “miscommunication” about potency testing for the marijuana flowers. He said he expects to reopen next week.
Inspectors, he said, “were pretty nice about it and understood our predicament.”
Durango Organics’ medical marijuana operation remains open.
Marijuana shops are required to test the potency of their products. Tests measure the amount of THC, marijuana’s active ingredient. Radding said he mistakenly thought potency testing wasn’t required for marijuana transferred from the medical system. A Marijuana Enforcement Division spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
A few customers were able to buy pot Friday morning before the shop was closed.
Peter Berriman, the first customer, bought a package of Cheeba Chews, a popular edible product.
“There are so many great things in Colorado,” Berriman said. “This is another great thing.”
Ann Perkins-Parrott of Durango, 63, said she doesn’t smoke marijuana. Rather, she saw purchasing marijuana as in line with her history of political activism, from protesting war to helping register African-American voters and backing abortion rights.
She called Friday’s opening a “historic moment.”
Animas Herbal Wellness Center also was licensed, but the store won’t open for retail sales until mid-October, when construction on its building is expected to be finished.
Retail pot sales in Colorado were allowed to begin Jan. 1, but local permitting and licensing delays have meant some shops have had to wait months to open.
