Retail staff members Roger Renguul and Aprilyn Chipuelong of CanaMarianas pose for a picture on Saturday, June 29.
CANAMARIANAS owner Louis Rodgers on Saturday spoke about the economic factors that have led him to close the marijuana store in Chalan Laulau.
CanaMarianas has been operating since 2021.
In a social media post early last month, CanaMarianas announced it was having a clearance sale of its onsite products, and that it was closing the store for good.
Rodgers said since 2022, he has seen a steady decline in his sales revenue.
“Customers aren’t spending as much is the biggest factor,” Rodgers said. “They’re expecting lower prices than what we were able to accommodate here at this location.”
He said he believed that having a store south of Garapan was advantageous to avoid direct competition with the cannabis retailers there. However, to spur sales Rodgers said he had to offer lower prices to entice customers.
“When I start to squeeze that margin to be able to keep employees employed while customers want to spend less because they have less to spend, decisions have to be made,” he said.
The increase in the number of marijuana retailers has also played a role in his decision, he added
But his “biggest gripe” has been the lack of public awareness on the government’s part about the island’s legal cannabis industry.
“If you go to Los Angeles or California the cannabis commission clearly markets cannabis to consumers. They market legal cannabis with billboards saying ‘Know what you buy.’ In Saipan how many signs have you seen about ‘Support your local cannabis industry’? Not one,” Rodgers said.
There should be public awareness about the island’s legal market, he added.
“That’s where the government is failing us — by not showing that there is support from the top for this industry to increase the awareness of it, to help reduce the stigma that still exists around cannabis,” Rodgers said. “I need the CNMI government and the cannabis commission [to] engage in sweeping public awareness campaigns in getting the community to support legal cannabis.”
Rodgers also noted the Metrc software system used in Oregon for supply chain tracking, security, and transparency.
“All the retail stores and farms [in Oregon] are all plugged into Metrc. So when a seed gets planted, that plant is registered into Metrc. The states’ cannabis commission can follow the entire progress of the bar code on that plant from the time it’s planted to the time it’s harvested, dried, packaged, sold, and in a customer’s hands,” he said. “Those are the tools necessary to ensure strict accountability — just to make sure it’s not slipping out the back door and then to the black market.”
As for the viability of marijuana tourism, Rodgers said:
“From the beginning, anybody that felt that legalized cannabis and tourism would pair together and would be a boon for the economy was really not paying attention to who the tourists are that come into the CNMI.
“Our tourists are Koreans and Chinese and [they] recognize the risk to them if they go back home and potentially being screened for drug use outside the country.”
Rodgers said he will leave the island for good at the end of this year. In the meantime, he hopes to liquidate as much of his assets as possible while still on island.
Vape Spot, which he also owned, shared retail space with CanaMarianas but will now move to Garapan. CanaMarianas, including its employees, will consolidate with a new marijuana retailer, CanaSaipan, on July 8. It will be located on Beach Road, south of the Garapan Fishing Base. Hours will be from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
