Eufloria brings treatment, jobs and tax revenue to Oklahoma
Three years after Oklahomans voted to legalize medical cannabis despite its federal prohibition, the market quickly grew to more than 11,000 active businesses and generated $56 million in state revenue.
EufloriaMeds first opened in 2018, shortly after the State Question 788 referendum, in an old Sonic Drive-Thru restaurant in East Tulsa and has now grown to five locations.
“We’ve added five businesses to Tulsa, high revenue businesses that pay tens of thousands of dollars in sales tax to the city,” co-founder and owner Eric Dangler said. “I would say strong positive impacts and it’s timely for sure.”
Eufloria offers a variety of cannabis-based products with THC and CBD options to address a variety of medical conditions. From cannabis flowers to vaping cartridges to infused chocolates and ice creams, Eufloria’s customers have the choice to purchase products matching their preferences.
Since it opened Eufloria has broken a lot of firsts — the first cannabis franchise, first 24-hour dispensary, first dispensary to allow open carry of firearms and the first cannabis cafe in the U.S.
Eufloria opened a location next to Gypsy Coffee House in the Tulsa Arts District in 2019. The relationship led Eufloria to open another location in the suburb of Jenks in May, next to Gypsy’s second location with a shared patio for patrons over the age of 21 to enjoy coffee and cannabis products.
Dangler had visited Amsterdam several times as a security contractor and remembered going to a coffee shop that didn’t sell coffee — only cannabis products. When opening the location in the Tulsa Arts Districts, he approached Gypsy Coffee House owner Bradly Garcia with his idea for a cannabis cafe.
“Bradley had also been in Amsterdam several times so we just thought it was a great idea to bring that European concept to Oklahoma,” Dangler said.
Shane Janssen, the franchise owner of the most recent Jenks location, is passionate about cannabis and has been a cannabis consumer since college.
“This is my second hustle. My main job is in natural gas, which I wanted to break out of — I don’t like the cyclical nature of the industry,” Janssen said.
Janssen’s other full-time job is being president and CEO of SourceOne Dual Fuel Systems, an energy sector company.
Optimistic about his new business, Janssen hopes to open new locations in other parts of the Tulsa metropolitan area and eastern Oklahoma.
Eufloria was the first cannabusiness in the U.S. with a franchising model. Franchise owners receive legal counsel, marketing tools, network access, other benefits and an accelerated program to start a franchise in three months.
Starting a franchise costs $90,000 in a franchise fee and an estimated total cost between $186,150 — $237,600 for THC retail. Cannabis retail company Cova Software estimates the average cost of starting a dispensary in Oklahoma to be $80,000 — $140,000 with ongoing monthly expenses from $30,000 — $40,000.
For Dangler, Eufloria was not a business of passion. After serving in the Marine Corps in the late 1990s, Dangler went into private security and later venture capital.
When his business partners brought up the idea in the summer of 2018, Dangler wasn’t sure about the newly legal industry.
“I didn’t know the first thing about it. I thought we were all government employees and government contractors, so we weren’t even allowed to use cannabis. I didn’t [use] and I didn’t even agree to do it until I did the two days of research and found out the medical benefits of it,” Dangler said.
Because of that, Dangler wanted to focus heavily on the medical side of cannabis without being associated with “stoner culture.”
This made its way into the uniform of the cannabis consultants, which was designed to look like mom-and-pop pharmacist uniforms from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Eufloria’s employees who consult and sell its products are specially trained in the variety of products, benefits and effects of cannabis.
The Mayo Clinic states medical research has shown potential positive benefits for patients experiencing a variety of conditions — but future research is needed as there are side effects.
Cannabis is illegal at the federal level in the U.S. despite being legal in some form in 17 states, two territories and the District of Columbia.
One way the federal prohibition affects Eufloria comes through sourcing, all of its products have to be grown and processed in the state of Oklahoma and maintain a legal chain of custody.
While there are many dispensaries in Oklahoma, Dangler says many get caught up in accounting and compliance troubles and go under.
Oklahoma law does not define medical conditions needed to qualify and allows adult patients with a board-certified physician’s signature to apply for medical cards through the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority.
“There’s not a person on Earth that doesn’t have a single medical issue with them and if you look at the medicinal uses and benefits, even all the way down to just lowering inflammation. Even if they’re using it recreationally — they’re probably helping themselves and their family whether they know it or not,” Dangler said.
For 23-year-old Tulsa resident, medical cardholder and customer Jonathan McCaslin, cannabis has helped improve his day-to-day life for his anxiety, insomnia and occasional back pain.
“It’s made my life more durable,” McCaslin said. “Big crowds — especially at grocery stores — tend to make me anxious. Medicating helps me get past my own barriers that make it unbearable for me to live life.”
