Jay Vollmar
Audio By Carbonatix
Ordway, Colorado, could be America’s first cannabis ghost town.
The town of just over 1,000 people, located about fifty miles east of Pueblo in Crowley County, had 56 active growing facilities at its peak: By the end of 2022, around seventy grows there were registered with the state Marijuana Enforcement Division. Less than a year later, however, Ordway was home to about twenty operating cultivations, according to local licensing officials.
As Colorado marks a decade of recreational cannabis sales, Ordway isn’t alone in its cannabis-industry woes. From December 2022 to the same month last year, the number of recreational marijuana growers registered in Colorado went from 789 to 621, a decline of over 21 percent. That mirrors a 30 percent drop-off in the state’s cannabis workforce and steep decreases in dispensary sales since pandemic restrictions ended.
“Even if you’re still open, you’re struggling,” says Chris Kaiser, founder of Bubba’s Kush, a cannabis cultivation in Ordway. “Being a cannabis grower was never all it was cracked up to be, but this is getting out of control.”
After Thomas Mitchell profiled Ordway’s plight in this week’s cover story, readers lit up on the Westword Instagram page. Says Rusty:
Legal weed sucks. Make it illegal again!
Adds Dean:
Lots of other states legalized weed with the last five years.
Notes Mark:
Very interesting to see the rise and market correction of the cannabis industry in real time.
Responds Rebekah:
All industries go through a proliferation phase, then a consolidation phase.
Suggests Calico:
Grow food in the greenhouses instead.
Concludes Adam:
Do you want the same people who got you hooked on opiates to dictate your choices for this industry? That’s the way it’s headed.
As you can see from these comments, nobody knows why we’re here. If you want a peak behind the curtain, join the person who started the first medical grow in Colorado Springs on the 17th of January. We’ll be meeting at 14er Brewing Company from 6 to 8 p.m. It’s time to get real, because most have no idea.
What did you think of Thomas Mitchell’s story? Colorado’s current cannabis scene in general? Share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.
