Marijuana Robberies In California Put Businesses Survival In Danger

A flow of marijuana robberies in November in the San Francisco Bay Area threatens the survival of small businesses. Their combined losses amount to at least $5 million. According to media reports, the crimes varied from break-ins with minor damage to shoutouts between offenders and law enforcement agents. 

One person was shot, and a scandal erupted when San Francisco officers were likely observing while criminals escaped with marijuana products belonging to the store they had robbed.  The insider said the main takeaway from the recent flow of thefts and break-ins is that the companies are fragile and regularly targeted by offenders looking to make easy profits.

Tucky Blunt, the owner of Oakland marijuana store Blunts and Moore, whose shop was hit, stated that “cannabis businesses are being robbed year-round, but no one is talking about it.” He also added that he was safer and had more money while selling on the street illegally. According to Blunt’s words, the business was doing much better than a year and a half ago when the protests after the death of George Floyd took place. Then his business was robbed with losses estimated to $700,000. 

He said that the 2020 break-in was a “total loss,” however, this time, the damage will take around $25,000 to restore. He considered himself to be the lucky one.  Blunt said that his store was a vandals’ target ten times since opening in 2018. The crucial questions are how much rob by criminals can small businesses survive?

She said that it is difficult, if not impossible, for them to obtain insurance to pay for fixing. Moreover, many targeted companies are small social equity operators with “low income.” Senter also expressed hopes that city authorities and California Legislature will partly think about tax breaks for cannabis businesses to provide them with financial help to reinforce their security.