By Gordon Dritschilo
THE RUTLAND HERALD
Buying marijuana in Rutland becomes a completely different experience next month.
Mountain Girl Cannabis became one of Vermont’s first two licensed retailers approved by the Vermont Cannabis Control Board this week. Owners Josh and Ana MacDuff have rented 174 West St. and plan to open for business on Oct. 1.
“We have a large space here,” Josh MacDuff said Thursday, as he stood amid the renovations underway at the building that was last occupied by an auto parts store. “We’re going to encourage folks from all walks of life to come enjoy the legal market.”
Josh MacDuff said the shop will have an outer waiting area with a window at which a staffer will check IDs and screen for intoxication and other safety issues. Customers then get to go, one at a time, into the back room where staff will be available to offer advice to those who aren’t sure what they’re looking for.
“If you’re brand new, we will definitely have a conversation letting people know they should be in a safe place, start low and take it very, very slow,” Ana MacDuff said. “Edibles are not snacks.”
Business will be largely cash at first, but the MacDuffs said they are working on a system that will allow them to take payments by debit card. Once the transaction is completed, customers exit through a second door that puts them in the parking lot.
Josh MacDuff said they couldn’t offer a precise product listing yet because he was unsure what would be available, but he said he expected it would include smokable buds, edible products such as gummies and chocolate, and a cannabis drink. Aside from that, they plan on CDB products and accessories.
“I think the biggest hurdle day one will be what’s available,” he said. “There are only three licensed producers in the state, and only two testing sites. There are going to be some bottlenecks right out of the gates.”
The MacDuffs said they also are trying to offer products at a range of prices.
“If you want to walk in our door and buy an eighth of cannabis for $30 or $40, we will have something for you,” he said. “If you want higher-end product, we will also have something for you.”
Ana MacDuff works in IT and Josh McDuff sells insurance, but this is not his first foray into the cannabis trade. In 2006, as a student at Green Mountain College, he was arrested after he was caught selling marijuana out of his dorm. He said on Thursday that he took a plea deal that put him on probation for four years with community service, after which his record was expunged.
The MacDuffs acknowledge that others who took up their line of work before it was legalized faced more severe consequences, and that she and her husband have long been legalization advocates.
“The war on drugs has disadvantaged a specific community,” Ana MacDuff said.
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.