Using Gamefication to Navigate the Cannabis Dispensary Industry

April 14, 2020
By Devyani Chhetri

First comes the thought then comes the process. Anyone who has taken the time to go through Cannabis’ legal assent in Massachusetts knows that there’s much that goes into the making of a cannabis dispensary.

Host community agreements (HCAs) signed with local bodies, negotiating the community impact fees, classification as a medical or recreation store–– form just the tip of the iceberg.

The complex nature of licensure and establishment are coupled with questions of whether businesses have enough capital for a dispensary. For many aspiring businesses, led by especially minority owners, the struggle is often to find the right route to pursue.

Cognizant of these gaps in the cannabis know-how, XCC students Sophie Richards, Shadae Leslie, Sebastian Coyomat, Candice Ma and Isaam Alagar are developing an online game in collaboration with the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council to help business owners figure out the pathways to equity licenses and establishing businesses.

The students, who are part of the “High Stakes: Social Equity in the Cannabis Industry” class taught by Dr. Seth Blumenthal and Prof. Ian Mashiter, want the game to act as an educational platform that explores the current obstacles plaguing the state’s cannabis industry.

“I was just impressed to see how difficult it was to get into the recreational based industry,” said Coymat, who is a senior at Questrom.

“It was when Boston Globe’s Dan Adams came in for a class and explained the different levels in the industry, I truly realized how complicated it was,” he said.

Now finding themselves at the homestretch of the program, Coymat met with his team on Zoom last week to sort out the questions they wanted to include in the final draft of their game.

“We were still in the research phase–– trying to get an understanding of the industry, before spring break. So we’ve been okay,” Leslie said about how the team has had to adjust with the realities of the pandemic.

“The MRCC sent across a lot of resources in powerpoints,” Coymat said. “There were five research points and we’re five of us–-so we just divided the research based on that.”

The game, which was originally going to be a board game, has now taken the face of a Buzzfeed-style instructional platform. “They’ve been very understanding because of the changes around the world,” Richards said about their communication with the MRCC.

Running over the definitions of legal terms and classification, the online game in many ways is reflective of the pathways that led them to their exploration of the cannabis industry.

Shadae Leslie, a student at COM, said that her identity as a Jamaican had a lot to do with her decision to join the class.

“There’s that familiar Bob Marleyan influence,” Leslie said. “The island [Jamaica] is very open to cannabis, there’s no stigma attached to it. I then moved to New York and that experience was different,” she said.

“New York isn’t there when it comes to legalization,” she said. “So it’s interesting to see how a state like Massachusetts is making the transition into an industry that’s booming while also tackling the impacts of the war on drugs.”

Meanwhile Richards, who belongs to California, spoke of her observation of California’s cannabis industry as a catalyst.

“California was one of the first states to legalize Marijuana, so I’ve always kind of grown up interested in learning more about the process,” she said.

“Although it’s in Massachusetts, I just made the jump from California to Massachusetts to see the process of legalization,” she said.

She was quick to point out the diversity in thought the course allowed. “I know that I couldn’t have spoken with Questrom students anywhere else,” she said. “As a political science major my course revolves so much around the economy but I hardly ever get to explore more of that.”

This article was written by Devyani Chhetri, a graduate assistant with XCC.