SIR Hybrid looks at providing variety in St. Louis dispensary location

SIR Hybrid Dispensary’s team, led by James Cummins and Vince Jimenez, are hoping to apply their prior business experience to providing medicine in their community. SIR Hybrid is 100% Missouri-owned and funded.

“We want to provide a safe and comfortable environment where patients aren’t afraid to ask questions and get an educated answer, as well as providing patients with the best and proper type of cannabis to treat their ailments,” Cummins told Greenway Magazine.

After both losing friends and family to cancer and the opioid epidemic, the team decided this was “their chance to help the community they live and help people like the ones that we lost.”

“By the end of November, we already had gathered some startup capital and started the journey,” Cummins said.

Starting up a new business in a state-legal and federally-illegal industry has presented unique concerns for license applicants. Industry leaders hope to see major reform, from banking to de-scheduling cannabis, sooner rather than later.

“My biggest concern is the federal government deciding to go against what many states have voted for and go after legal cannabis businesses,” Cummins said. “My biggest hope for the industry is to see it unscheduled and treated like alcohol. It is a much safer alternative to lots of things that are legal.”

Jumping into a new market has presented challenges across the board for applicants. For SIR Hybrid, leasing was a leading challenge.

“The most challenging part I found was a location willing to rent to you,” Cummins said. “As you know, most properties have loans on them and banks are not keen on landlords renting to cannabis businesses. Lucky for us, it didn’t take too many tries.”

Despite challenges, Cummins sees the future of the industry in Missouri as bright.

“I see big things for the medical cannabis industry from top quality safe tested medicine to hopefully more doctors willing to prescribe cannabis over opioids,” Cummins said. “I think we will have one of the best programs. I also see it continually expanding each and every year. ”

The dispensary plans to offer multiple strains of flower, some with higher THC and some with higher CBD, as well as edibles, extracts, and delivery systems.

“We are planning on sourcing our products from all around the state as we have letters of intent with prospective licensee’s as far as Kansas City and the same goes for the manufacturers as well,” Cummins said. “We think this is one of our strengths as not to be locked into one source for our product.”

The name “SIR Hybrid” derives from the four types of cannabis: sativa, indica, ruderalis, hybrid.

The Green Giant LLC applicant hopes to open their dispensary on Page Ave. in St. Louis. They are one of 1,163 competing for one of 192 dispensary licenses to be awarded by the state before December 31.

“We are here for our community and our patients we are 100 percent Missouri owned and funded. We hope to be in our community for a very long time.”

Learn more about the dispensary at http://www.sirhybrid.com/.