Distribution seen as crimp for pot

LOS ANGELES — Most Californians with an urge to smoke a joint will enter the state’s legal marijuana marketplace through a single doorway — at a retail shop.

Out of view of those day-to-day sales, the state is ushering in a sprawling, untested system to move pot from place to place that will also serve as a collection point for taxes, a gateway for testing and a packaging center for the plant’s fragrant buds.

But just days after legal sales began, there are concerns that not enough companies are licensed and ready to transport pot.

“There’s going to be huge bottleneck in the distribution network in California at some point,” said Terry Blevins, CEO of a security firm and a part-owner of a marijuana distribution company in Southern California.

Billions of dollars of pot will need to move through the market in 2018, and “I don’t believe there are enough businesses to handle it,” he said.

Flow Kana CEO Michael Steinmetz, whose company distributes cannabis products from small, outdoor farmers, said a slow rollout of licenses has resulted in a limited pool of distributors.

While many retailers stocked up in advance of legal sales, “I do think we are going to see a big reduction in supply,” Steinmetz predicted.

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