A small vacation resort area in Michigan is one of the top markets for marijuana sales : NPR
A small canton of Michigan, better known as the holiday station, has become one of the best markets in marijuana sales. And he now has a new nickname: New Puffalo.
Juana Summers, host:
Big City people often go to neighboring tourist cities for summer escapes. San Francisco A Napa Valley. New Yorkers can go to the north. Chicagoans often go to New Buffalo nearby, Michigan, for its hills and sandy beaches and vast wine offers. Now add cheaper marijuana to the list, again winning Buffalo of new nicknames, including Weed City USA. From the WBez member station, journalist Michael Puente explains.
Michael Puente, Byline: the city center of New Buffalo has a feeling of New England. With its white walk, a picturesque view of Lake Michigan, this quiet seaside resort attracts vacationers for large restaurants, breweries and cellars. But in the largest area known as New Buffalo Township, something else draws thousands every weekend.
Raymond Baker: Mecca of the dispensaries here (laughs). Whenever I come back, there is a new one, it seems to be. It is like another that appeared.
Puente: Raymond Baker (pH) drives about an hour to come here to buy marijuana because he is illegal in his original state of Indiana. His wife, Monique (PH), says that she spends about 200 dollars per visit, which is much cheaper than if they go to Chicago, which is closer but where the cost of marijuana is higher.
Monique Baker: This same amount will probably only make you get an ounce.
Puente: the Michigan marijuana industry has flourished to become one of the largest markets in the country.
Bill Knudson: Total sales are about 3 billion dollars per year.
Puente: Bill Knudson is an agricultural economist at Michigan State University.
Knudson: It is a reasonably large industry and it has certainly been a boon for certain local government units.
Puente: Nowhere was this windfall was greater than in the small community of the new canton of Buffalo, with a population of 2,500 inhabitants.
KNUDSON: Small towns along the border of Indiana-Michigan have a disproportionate number of dispensaries. We were expecting ourselves in a way. I think we are surprised to see how great it is.
Puente: Last year, there were only six dispensaries throughout the canton. Today, canton officials say there are 26, with most of a highly frequented highway just above the Indiana state line. A recent report in Crain’s Detroit Business assessed the marijuana market in this region at half a billion sales. It is even greater than the much larger metropolitan region. There are so many dispensaries in new buffaloes that are called something else.
Vance Price: This nickname, New Puffalo, Marijuana Capital – I think that is not why we want to be known.
Puente: Vance Price is the mayor of the city of New Buffalo, one of the three communities in the canton. The city voted to have marijuana dispensaries, so it does not obtain a reduction in the money generated by dispensaries located in the canton but outside the limits of the city. Despite this, Price admits that there have been positive points of the Boon – more visitors to the cellars, breweries and restaurants in the city. But he says that traffic jams on weekends cause public security problems and disrupt the feeling of the small town in the region.
Price: I will sometimes get emails, why do you allow as much? And it is, well, we did not do it, you know, that many in the canton. I just think that what happened is that they did not expect what there is as much.
Puente: This part is true, explains Michelle Heit, New Buffalo Township supervisor.
Michelle Heit: There are many. There are many at the moment. More than what we probably planned. The areas were large enough for them to find a way to grasp as much as they could, and we did not plan it.
Puente: Heit says that the canton wanted to eliminate old structures by allowing new developments. He receives $ 58,000 per year from each dispensary. It is expected that the revenues generated could amount to $ 1.5 million next year – enough to repair the roads and buy a new fire truck. And if this new nickname Puffalo makes us a concern, Heit simply says …
Heit: I mean, I guess anyone can call a community as he wants to call it. This has certainly prevented anyone from coming here. I think it’s probably the busiest summer of all time. We also have a casino. You know, this area has a lot to offer.
Puente: and many more marijuana dispensaries for the canton are in preparation.
For NPR News, I am Michael Puente in New Buffalo, Michigan.
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