As an assistant district attorney and judge in Santa Cruz, California, Nick Kovacevich’s father put people in prison for possessing marijuana. Forty years later, his son is selling packaging for about 2 million joints a month.
Kovacevich is the 32-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Kush Bottles Inc., a Santa Ana, California-based startup that performs a delicate balancing act. The company supplies packaging and other ancillary items to state-sanctioned pot dispensaries without ever touching the cannabis plant, which the federal government considers an illegal drug in the same class as heroin.
[related_articles location=”left” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-section” curated_ids=””]Now, as a pioneer who found a way to succeed in the risky business of pot sales, Kovacevich faces his biggest challenge. Though marijuana is more lucrative than ever, the path to becoming a reliable industry — like beer and wine — is in a constant state of flux. Pot sellers are contending with a patchwork of state regulations and an unfriendly federal government that’s threatened to restore a “Reefer Madness”-era prohibition mindset.“It’s a year of transition, not only to adapt to the new rules, but also a transition in terms of where our focus as a company is,” Kovacevich said in an interview.
Kush Bottles is seen as one of the industry’s biggest bellwethers. As a publicly traded company with a presence in 30 states and the District of Columbia, it has much to gain — and lose.
To succeed, Kush will have to navigate a minefield of red tape. California, the largest U.S. cannabis market, began legal recreational cannabis sales on Jan. 1, and Massachusetts is scheduled to do the same in June. In total, eight states and the District of Columbia allow for adult use, and 21 additional states have voted to legalize medical marijuana. But each of those markets has its own set of rules and regulations.
Check out our updated map showing shops licensed to sell recreational cannabis in California.
“We may have a first-mover advantage in Colorado, Oregon, Washington and California, but that doesn’t give us first-mover advantage in Massachusetts,” Kovacevich said. “Do we want to cede that advantage? Absolutely not.”
In California, the most important regulatory change for Kush is a move away from deli-style retail. Previously, customers would walk into a dispensary, pick the type of marijuana they wanted and then the “budtender” would weigh and package the product on site — using a Kush bag or container. That’s no longer allowed. Now cannabis has to arrive at dispensaries prepackaged in specified weights.
To maintain its hands-off-the-weed approach, that means Kush must shift its customer base from retail dispensaries to big growers, manufacturers and distributors. Those businesses will require more custom-branded packaging and automation to boost packing efficiency.
Enter Sessions
Like others in the industry, Kush is also coping with complications created by the industry’s most powerful enemy: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Just four days after California dispensaries opened their doors to recreational customers, Sessions rescinded the Obama-era policy that allowed for the rise of state-legal businesses. The Bloomberg Intelligence Global Cannabis Competitive Peers Index, a gauge of industry stocks, dropped as much as 24 percent after reports of the Justice Department plan.
JP Noda stocks cannabis at The Apothecarium shortly before the store opened for its first day of recreational marijuana sales on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
But by the next day, the shares rose. That’s a far cry from what happened when Sessions, a long-time opponent of marijuana use, was appointed. Cannabis stocks took months to recover from the hit they took when President Donald Trump named the Alabama senator to lead the country’s top law-enforcement agency.
The latest reaction on Wall Street shows that industry is drawing more savvy investors, and it may be too late for Sessions to stop the momentum.
“A year ago, it was all retail investors, and they were all very spooked,” said Kovacevich. “Now you’re starting to get some more sophisticated family offices, small institutional investors. People were like, ‘Oh, great. There’s negative news, the stocks are dropping. That’s a buying opportunity.”
Kush posted revenue of $8.85 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, up 258 percent from the year-earlier period. Shares traded at $6.43 at the close of trading Friday, up 57 percent for the year.
Fear, Excitement
Kush is benefiting from both excitement and fear about legal marijuana. People are interested in investing in a rapidly growing market. California alone is estimated to be a $3.7 billion in 2018, according to BDS Analytics. The national market is likely to reach $50 billion by 2026, up from $6 billion in 2016, according to the investment bank Cowen & Co. By the same token, the Justice Department’s crackdown may be steering potential investors away from businesses that actually touch the plant. That helps a company like Kush, which doesn’t.
Don’t miss our reviews of strains, vape oils and other cannabis products.
Kush could one day have an opportunity to get into the plant-touching side of the business, Kovacevich said. Theoretically, it could put the cannabis in the packages before shipping them out, he said.
But for now, Kush is benefiting too much to think about switching its business model, he said. The company said it’s working with one of the largest U.S. banks, which it declined to name — most financial institutions won’t deal with pot companies because of its dual legal status — and Kush has vault services for cash collection. One day, the company hopes to list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
“That all goes away if we touch the plant in the current climate,” Kovacevich said.
To subscribe to The Cannifornian’s email newsletter, click here.
