At the first ever Green Market Report Michigan Cannabis Business Summit in Detroit on Sept. 6, we recognized some of the stellar industry players with the GMR Michigan Cannabis Awards.
The winner of Top Dispensary was PUFF Cannabis Co., a four-year-old marijuana company that has grown into a 12-store chain with aspirations to expand beyond Michigan’s borders.
Justin Elias
Company president and founder Justin Elias said that PUFF has no desire to be acquired by a larger business – as is the aim of many startups – but rather that he envisions making PUFF into a “household name for marijuana in every state, not just Michigan.”
“We’re in this long-term. We’re not here for a buy-out,” Elias said, adding that if all goes to plan, PUFF will have at least 20 store locations in Michigan by the third quarter of 2024. He also said the company is looking into expansion opportunities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Jersey.
Elias, an industry veteran who began in the medical marijuana business in 2013 before launching PUFF in 2019, said what drew him to the trade was seeing how much help cannabis provided the seriously ill, from cancer patients to those with Parkinson’s or epilepsy.
“The