Cannabis has become ingrained in culture and commerce in Colorado, where the plant was legalized for recreational purposes over twelve years ago. And even though people across the country aren’t chasing that Rocky Mountain high like they once did, we still have some of the smartest minds and greenest thumbs in legal weed.
After busy and successful rides in 2024 that led to even bigger plans for this year, here are five people to watch in Colorado cannabis in 2025:
Alana and Dave Malone
Green Dot Labs will celebrate a decade in legal cannabis this year, and co-founders Alana and Dave Malone already have a laundry list of awards and benchmarks to be proud of — but they won’t stay high on their success for very long.
The couple behind Boulder’s longtime grow and hash lab face a challenging landscape in Denver, where dispensary sales continue falling and few cannabis brands stay on top. They’ll be doubling up on those challenges in 2025, too, with a brand-new facility in Phoenix on the way as Green Dot enters Arizona’s up-and-down marijuana market this spring.
But the Malones and their expanding crew have proven time and again that Green Dot is willing to look past yellow lights in the market. They’ve already cornered Colorado’s after a fast and unlikely rise from eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner to selling their product in hundreds of dispensaries across the state. Now they’re in business with a New York investment firm, putting down a $25 million bet that Dave’s eye for genetics and Alana’s business instincts will carry Green Dot into a newer, bigger era.
“We started this on the back of my parents’ willingness to take a very serious risk,” says Alana, the CEO of Green Dot.
“But I think, more than anything, people like authenticity. And our approach is letting Dave go somewhere new and driving it forward.”
A former engineer, Dave moved to Boulder from Louisiana to grow medical marijuana. In 2009 he met Alana, who was days away from jetting out of the country on a business education program. Before leaving, she went to visit a friend who happened to live next to Dave, but the friend wasn’t home. When Alana entered the shared backyard, she ran into Dave’s dog, who bit her in the butt. Two years later, Dave and Alana had their first child. In 2015, Green Dot was born thanks to a starting investment from Alana’s parents.
H/T: www.westword.com
