Forty-eight pages in all, it was stuffed with advertisements for businesses with names like Mile High Mike's, Happy Buddah.
A full-page ad in ReLeaf costs about $1,100, making the publication a cash cow for The Independent, which has used its bounty from marijuana ads this year to hire a new reporter and promote three staff members to full time. The paper has also added a column called CannaBiz; its author is the new marijuana beat writer.
What would happen in communities now allowing medical marijuana had been a subject of much hand-wringing. But few predicted this: that it would be a boon for local newspapers looking to cope with the recession and the flight of advertising.
But in states like Colorado, California and Montana where use of the drug for health purposes is legal, newspapers have rushed to woo marijuana providers. Many of these enterprises are flush with cash and eager to get the word out about their businesses.
The growth of the medical marijuana business has some worried about the ultimate buzz kill: that the bubble is about to burst.
In Montana the Legislature is expected to take up proposals to more strictly regulate medical marijuana.
At The Missoula Independent, where medical marijuana ads now make up about 10 percent of revenue, there is concern that the spigot may soon tighten.
"There's no question that they've been good for our business," said Matt Gibson, The Independent's publisher. "And we're worried about 2011, if the state revises the statute, which it appears is all but certain."
Source: San Jose Mercury News
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