Dusty Allen used to arrest people for illegal marijuana. Now, he issues licenses to people looking to sell it legally in Aurora.

Allen is going into his seventh year working in marijuana licensing for the city of Aurora and knows the ins-and-outs of the industry — which is celebrating the 10th year of legalization on Jan. 1 — and regulations well.

When Allen does quarterly field inspections to the 24 marijuana facilities in Aurora, he looks for several things, he said, with a focus on security.

Cannabis businesses in Aurora are required to take certain security measures, such as including camera footage on everything, except bathrooms, and blocking the windows entirely so people outside the building can’t see any of the products inside.

Anytime a business makes changes, including to the floor layout or camera locations, the company has to go through a modification of premises, Allen said. 

Aurora has stricter requirements for marijuana businesses than many other cities in the state, Allen said. While this can seem like a burden on the businesses, they are oftentimes thankful for the requirements because they help prevent theft, he said.

Unlike most other cities in the state, Aurora requires its businesses have a safe or vault in their business to store processed marijuana when the business is closed, Allen said. 

In many cities, the product stays in the display cases on the floor overnight. 

“We have very few burglaries in the city of Aurora and we lose very little product to burglaries,” Allen said. “Sometimes, people will complain about the strict requirements a little bit, but I actually think most of our licensees appreciate that we’re looking out for them too.”

Since cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, it’s often difficult to recoup money lost from product theft because it’s hard to get insurance coverage, Allen said.

Another part of Allen’s job is making sure people walking past the building can’t smell the marijuana inside, he said. Exterior odor was “big concern” for City Council members when they decided to allow marijuana sales, so it’s something Allen “won’t put up with.”

Since he does all the field inspections, he knows the businesses inside out, he said. The downside is that Allen doesn’t love the smell of marijuana, he said. 

When he leaves field inspections and gets home, he immediately sheds his clothes and showers because “even 15 minutes in the store makes me smell like marijuana,” he said.

Allen’s current job is similar — and also vastly different — than his prior job with law enforcement in Kansas. 

In Aurora, he issues licenses to business who sell legal marijuana and checks them for compliance. 

In Kansas, he arrested people who possessed or sold marijuana. 

“It’s very strange to me that I walk into these dispensaries and see all of this marijuana,” Allen said. “Back in the day, I looked for drugs, I looked for marijuana and I arrested tons and tons of people for possession and growing.”

The drug is still illegal in Kansas.

His job is ironic, he said, but his opinion of marijuana now is different than it was when he lived in rural Kansas.

“I’ve lightened up a little bit on it, even though it’s still not something I would want to use,” he said. 

The career shift came about because Allen grew tired of the stress that comes with policing, he said.

Having grown up in a law enforcement family, Allen wanted to stay in enforcement without dealing with the constant stress, especially after he had a family, he said. 

“It’s a totally different atmosphere than what I’m used to,” Allen said. “Dealing with licensees, they’re very cooperative most of the time. I’m still doing enforcement, but it’s a lot different.”

Allen called himself a “talker” and said his sense of humor and easygoing attitude help him respect and be respected by the people and businesses he inspects, he said. 

“I’m easy to get along with, I’m easy to talk to, but I expect you to follow the rules,” he said. “I have a very good working relationship with most of my licensees, and that makes my job a lot easier to do.”

In his years doing licensing work, Allen has seen the decline of cannabis sales in Aurora and heard the laments of the licensees, he said.

“A lot of licensees have told me that they feel like they got taken advantage of initially because it was new and there was a market for it,” Allen said. “Now, with the decline in the price and the cost of everything else, like electricity and other building expenses, going up I see a lot of people going out of business.”

He’s hopeful that, post-decline, the market has stabilized, but said the industry is likely to see a takeover by bigger companies with more funding. 

In recent months, Aurora’s City Council has debated funding to homeless service providers due to a significant decrease in marijuana tax dollars, which go to those providers.

With the dip in marijuana tax revenue comes a significant cut to funds for organizations, such as Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Bridge House, and Salvation Army. 

“When I started this in 2017, I saw prices per pound of marijuana at $2,500 to $3,000 per pound,” Allen said. “Currently, talking to some of my licensees, it’s anywhere from $400 to $600, so you can really see the decline there.”

Colorado cannabis sales have slipped in recent years. So far in 2023, businesses have sold $1.3 billion worth of products. The high mark was 2021, when dispensaries logged $2.2 billion in sales, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. In 2014, the first year retail sales were legally allowed, the state tracked roughly $684 million in sales with far fewer businesses licensed. 

Allen takes pride in his job because he is part of making Aurora a desirable place to live and visit, he said.

“I always try to go above and beyond to make the city look good because I want people to talk good about the city,” he said. “Aurora has one of the best marijuana programs in the state and I get a lot of compliments on it.”

In Aurora currently, there are 24 authorized stores. On top of the general sales tax rate of 3.75%, marijuana businesses pay an additional 5% special sales tax.

In 2022, the cannabis industry brought in $11.2 million in tax revenue for Aurora. About 1% of that revenue goes toward youth violence prevention programs, according to the city’s budget office.