Alex Bridges a cannabis consultant at Sierra Wellness Connection displays a strain of cannabis for medicinal use.
One of Carson City’s first medical cannabis shops celebrated its first anniversary Tuesday and spent the day giving back to its customers.
The Sierra Well dispensary honored the day with deals for its customers as well as with a free pizza lunch from Rollin Pizza Pies.
“We love and care for the people in this community,” said production manager Andrew Koetting.
Sierra Well is considered a wellness company that sells cannabis. Koetting said it’s used for people to obtain a comfort in life they desire and deserve.
“The big thing is education to the benefits because cannabis therapy is subjective,” Koetting said.
He said they want to help educate their patrons so when they come in with ailments they have an idea of what they want to take, while the employees are there to help give direction and helpful suggestion.
“We are a health and wellness operation that happens to sell cannabis and that is shown with our professionalism and caring with our employees for each patient.”
One unique feature of the business is the production management. Because they’re a small to medium business, they’re able to interface with their customers directly and provide specific strains people may be looking for.
“Since our inception, we have been community focused,” Koetting said. “One of the pillars we are built on is education and we have come a long way with that and we want to help the community continue to be educated on cannabis therapy.”
“One of our main jobs is to remove the negative stigma so ingrained with the community and cannabis, we want people to see that we aren’t just a bunch of stoners, there are lots of young professionals who have made cannabis a part of their lives and they bring such a passion and excitement to this industry.
“We have worked with state and local officials to (discuss) any concerns they have — education starts from the top down.”
Over the past year Sierra Well has donating almost 1,000 meals to F.I.S.H with their Cans for Cannabis food drive last year.
“Even tax revenues have been more than $100,000 just this year so we are excited to see the positive things for the community as we and the industry grow,” Koetting said.
One of the things Sierra Well prides itself on is its connection with its patrons.
“A large base of our patrons have become like family, we have forged bonds with people that come in here so that’s nice,” Koetting said. “It has been a good day, we have seen twice the number of people that we normally see on a Tuesday, it is nice to see and we are offering free pizza, have lunch on us. “We went with a local food truck and they were excited to help out. It has all just been hugely successful and we are excited to see what the next year brings.
“We have been very welcomed. I think medical cannabis dispensaries was something Carson City needed and we are happy we could provide that.”
With Nevada legalizing marijuana in the last election, Sierra Well said that creates an exciting opportunity to continue to build its brand in the capital city and continue to grow.
“We are excited for the future for what recreational cannabis brings and for the community as a whole.” Koetting said. “We have come a long way in the last year and we are excited for the next year, the next five years. It has been an incredible success.”
Koetting said in the coming years they’re looking to expand their business, to add to their 15-person production facility, expand to Reno and build a cultivation facility. “We have grown exponentially in the last year and are slated to do the same for the coming year but with that comes growing pains,” Koetting said. “But we are excited to see where this goes... it has been fun to this point and it’s fun getting to move forward.”