Alpine Essentials Dispensary’s stated mission is serving the public and helping others. Now, with retail recreational marijuana sales legalized in Palmer Lake, they hope to benefit their hometown more.
The dispensary, off Colorado 105 just west of Monument, opened its doors to recreational sales Saturday, a recent shift many locals believe will bring a sizable revenue boost to Palmer Lake’s economy.
Alpine Essentials have been owned and operated by the Woodward family since 2015.
Started as a cultivation center, the business has grown exponentially in the past eight years. They opened their medical dispensary in January 2022, and on Saturday reopened for recreational sales.
For the past three years, Melissa Woodward and her family have petitioned to legalize recreational marijuana in Palmer Lake. For two years, their campaigning work got the initiative on the ballot, but it failed to pass. This year, the circumstances were different.
“This last November, it was put on the ballot by the Board of Trustees, so it wasn’t a citizen-led initiative,” Woodward said. “
We got a new Board of Trustees that looked very honestly at the financial state of Palmer Lake, and it wasn’t good. They looked at options to develop revenue, which came down to cannabis sales or property taxes. Cannabis passed.”
November’s ballot measure passed 55% to…
