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Interview: Marie Montmarquet on the State of the Industry

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The cannabis industry is propelled by movers and shakers, and Marie Montmarquet is making a huge impact with her delivery and cannabis business, MD Numbers, providing consulting for equity applicants who are trying to get into the world of legal weed. CULTURE broke it down with her about her passion for the leafy green and the good work she’s doing.

How did you first get into the industry?
We realized if we didn’t own a point of production and some sort of piece of the supply chain, like cultivation or production, we wouldn’t really be able to compete with some of these other businesses. This led us to start our own farm, which we’ve had for almost four years now in Salinas, California. It’s about an acre of land, and we’re expanding soon. 

At the same time, we also launched our delivery service, and we’ve worked hard to be compliant and keep up with regulations. We jumped through all these hoops, like how can we legally grow; how can we legally operate our delivery business. 

No one has any equity in the business except my brother and I, which is exciting because we get to make whatever decisions we want independently, and this allows us a lot more flexibility to reinvest money back into our company, which has allowed us to get to where we are now. By investing in the farm, learning a lot about distribution and cultivation, we’ve been able to grow. 

What do you do to give back to the community?

I am an equity advisor for a nonprofit in San Francisco called Success Center. We have what we call “equity for industry” workshops, and every two weeks, we bring on a specialist, like attorneys to talk about business formation or other industry insiders. We teach all kinds of things, from a deep dive into distribution and revenue streams to the support available for verified equity applicants. 

What do equity applicants need help with the most?

Equity applicants in San Francisco need a lot of support because there isn’t really a budget for them, and there’s no direct reimbursement for them, so that’s the piece of this very oxymoronic puzzle we’re trying to deal with. These are equity applicants who come from poverty-stricken areas that have been heavily impacted by the war on drugs, and then they’re up against the process of opening a storefront in San Francisco, which is very expensive. We want to make sure they’re able to make good decisions and not get taken advantage of by predatory investors.

For more information, visit mdnumbersinc.com