Colorado dispensary owner details her journey

“People think that dispensary owners are just rolling in dough, and that is just not the case.” A window into a broken, out-moded system with Wanda James, one of the industry’s most innovative businesswomen.

The Document Journal caught up with Wanda for an in depth interview.

As an ex-military officer and restaurateur,  Wanda James  was not expecting to go into the cannabis business. But when James learned her half-brother had been sentenced to ten years in prison for possessing just four ounces of marijuana, she was appalled and moved to action. With her political background of working for Barack Obama s National Finance Committee in 2008, managing election campaigns, and running for Congress, she saw that it was time to change the narrative for people of color in the marijuana business. Now, a co-owner with husband Scott Dura of Simply Pure, a successful dispensary in downtown Denver with 32 employees and revenues of $2.5 to $3 million a year, she is the first African American woman to own a marijuana dispensary in Colorado. Introduced to Document through Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, she spoke to us about her expertise as grower, the stringency of marijuana tax laws, tax codes, and the continuing challenges presented by running a business still classed as illegal by the federal government.

Check out the full interview here