Why Are Dispensaries Still Popular Burglary Targets?

Dear Stoner: Why are criminals still targeting marijuana dispensaries so much? Do they really have that much cash to take, or are they stealing the weed?
Ally

Dear Ally: Someone willing to steal a car and drive it into a storefront will probably steal anything valuable once inside, but dispensaries have fewer valuable items than most people assume. Cash is taken out of the registers, and the vast majority of product is locked up in the back after the stores close.

Most times when thieves break into a dispensary, they get little more than a few hundred dollars of refrigerated edibles and, if they’re lucky, an uprooted ATM. All it takes is one or two successful entries into the safe room or storage area to make it worthwhile, though, because ten pounds of weed or a duffel bag of rosin still go a long way even at today’s prices.

Two different alleged crime rings in which thieves would steal vehicles, use them to break into dispensaries and then sell stolen dispensary goods on Facebook were busted by Denver-area law enforcement late last year – but that hasn’t stopped burglary attempts. In fact, burglars are even hotter on dispensaries than before, according to cannabis business owners and employees.

Everbloom, a chain with two stores in Denver, has been targeted multiple times since last December, according to its owner, while the Herbal Cure and A Cut Above were both targets of recent break-ins, too, with suspects attempting to drive stolen cars through both dispensaries.

Other businesses are dealing with this, also. Restaurants, liquor stores, smoke shops, barber shops, bicycle stores and even locksmith supply stores are being broken into around Denver right now. As long as police response times hover around fifteen minutes for high-priority calls, expect more store robberies, and not just at dispensaries.

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