James was drawn into marijuana advocacy due to the existence and perpetuation of mass incarceration. In 1996, Wanda’s brother was charged with possession of 4.5 ounces of cannabis. He served a total of ten years. More than four of those were spent in a Texas jail picking cotton for free. He was only 19 at the time of his arrest.
Wanda James and Scott Durrah opened the Apothecary of Colorado (AOC) in 2009. They became the first African-Americans licensed in Colorado to own a dispensary. The AOC became famous for its cooking classes that Durrah instructed at his restaurant, 8 Rivers, as well as their delicious edibles. Due to their zeal for cannabis and food, the couple decided to sell the AOC and opened Simply Pure Medicated Edibles in 2010. In 2015, the couple opened Simply Pure Dispensary in the very popular LoHi neighborhood.
Wanda is also the managing partner and President of the Cannabis Global Initiative, a business consulting firm, which has worked the island of Jamaica, Maryland, California, Ohio and Florida.
Today, we will be catching up to how Wanda and Simply Pure has been doing since the opening and to get an idea of what the climate of the cannabis industry is today.
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WANDA JAMES