At risk of robbery, cash-and-carry cannabis vendors need federal ‘SAFE’ act’s help

Vince Chandler | Dec 18, 2019

Since the start of November, there has been a string of violent, apparently coordinated robberies in southeast metro Denver. In each case, the assailants threatened the lives of store employees to coerce access to the potential thousands of dollars worth of product and cash on hand. So far, one Colorado news outlet has reported on the crime spree, which has evoked an official warning from Denver police and feelings of discomfort and fear among the state’s industry heading into the holidays.

Colorado’s cannabis community finds itself especially susceptible, with year-ending gift buying on the rise, to these violent crimes. The very real dangers of operating a business in the cannabis space was illustrated in a grizzly manner in 2016 when Marine veteran Travis Mason was executed in a robbery of a dispensary he was employed to secure. Since then, Denver police have issued official bulletins, noting an “​uptick in burglaries at marijuana facilities​.”

At risk of robbery, cash-and-carry cannabis vendors need federal ‘SAFE’ act’s help