Brandon DunnBlue Sage has built out two dispensaries nearly simultaneously with their Lebanon, Missouri store launching just one week ago. The Lebanon location opened its doors on Friday, January 22, to long lines and excited patients.
Blue Sage Cannabis Company Director of Science and Technology, Montana Dickerson, spoke with Greenway this week about the launch of their second dispensary location in Carthage, Missouri on Saturday, January 30.
“One of the best parts of the opening was seeing the faces that have come by and knocked on the door, or checked in with us to see when we were going to open,” Dickerson said.
“We’ve had our fair share of challenges over the past year, but the largest is definitely the product supply in the Missouri market is challenging right now. We’re fortunate to have flower for our dispensaries and look forward to expanding our selection and bringing our patients the products they have been waiting for.”
The Lebanon location has been able to sustain supply despite high demand, and the team at Blue Sage is confident that they won’t see shortages.
Dickerson was excited to launch the second store in Carthage and told Greenway that they will continue to have flower offerings from C4 and Solhaus, and are awaiting the first harvest from Flora Farms in Humansville, Mo.
Additionally, Blue Sage is partnering with CLOVR to have edibles and manufactured products in both locations in the coming weeks.
“I have to say that the community support has been overwhelming,” Dickerson said. “At the Lebanon location, we saw people drive from all over. We had people from north of the Lake, Branson, and Joplin.”
A ribbon-cutting is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. on Saturday at the Carthage location. Both locations will operate on the same schedule. Hours of operation will be Monday – Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 12:00-5:00 p.m.
Dickerson explained how important that community interaction is to the company.
“We’re excited about giving back to the community,” Dickerson said. “We’re exploring different possibilities through the Missouri Department of Conservation. Sustainability and responsible agriculture are things that are important and sometimes overlooked in the cannabis industry. We want to help offset some of that environmental impact by creating more habitats here in Missouri!” While not finalized yet, Dickerson says that Blue Sage is working on a project that would create an orchard and see a tree planted for every 10 vape purchases.
Dickerson said that in keeping with their dedication to the community, patients should expect a high level of service. “Blue Sage is a family-owned business and our focus is on the patient experience.” With that in mind, Blue Sage has integrated online ordering through their website, www.bluesagecanna.com, with a strain and a product list that is updated in real-time. Blue Sage also offers discount programs for compassionate care patients and veterans.
A focus on patients and providing safe medicine is the foundation of the business according to Montana Dickerson. Blue Sage CEO LeAnne Dickerson is an independent pharmacist and the staff and leadership of Blue Sage boast a combined 80+ years of experience in the medical field, but that hasn’t stopped them from learning. Blue Sage’s dispensary staff was trained by the Cannabis Care Team, clinicians who have been providing dispensary training for employees in multiple dispensary locations in Missouri and Oklahoma.
“One of the good things about building out both stores at the same time is that we have had everyone training together and the staff (from the Carthage location) has been able to be in the store in Lebanon and train,” Dickerson continued.
Blue Sage Cannabis Company is truly a family company. Montana’s mother and Blue Sage CEO, LeAnne, and father, Jess, are the co-founders of the company, along with Montana and brother, Boston, the Dickersons make up the core leadership of Blue Sage.
In addition to the dispensaries, Blue Sage was also awarded a manufacturing license and has partnered with Compliance Director Paula Givens to create Happy Days, the manufacturing facility licensee that will produce Blue Sage’s proprietary medical blends along with other product lines. “We look forward to bringing our own line of medically focused Blue Sage Cannabis products to our patients,” Dickerson said.
“Construction is complete and we expect to be operational in February. We’re excited to bring more products to Missouri patients through our manufacturing facility. Vivid Wellness will include edibles, tinctures, vape cartridges, skincare products, and more. I’m personally most excited about our line of specialty products called Blackout Concentrates. We’ll be making Live Resin, Live Rosin, cold-cured concentrates, diamonds and sauce, live resin vapes cartridges, and more.”
As if their plate wasn’t full enough the Dickerson brothers have another cannabis-centric passion project in the works.
“My brother and I will be starting a podcast in February about the Missouri medical cannabis market. We landed on the name Bud Brothers! We’ll be bringing in local experts weekly to discuss all things cannabis in Missouri.”
You can find out more and keep tabs on progress by following @bluesagecanna on Instagram and Blue Sage Cannabis Company on Facebook. You can learn more about the Bud Brothers podcast by following Boston and Montana @bostondickerson and @medical_montana on Instagram.
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