Fast Take With Diane Downey, CEO, Rebel Spirit Cannabis Co.

Diane Downey’s experience navigating Oregon’s new Aspergillus testing rules as CEO of Rebel Spirit Cannabis Co. was part of the 2023 September/October cover story detailing the implications of the new regulations for the already precarious cannabis cultivation market. In this Fast Take interview, Downey dives into other aspects of cannabis business ownership and how she and her husband, COO Chris Bechler, have handled the ups and downs of the market.

Read the full cover story here.

What’s the biggest challenge in launching or maintaining a cannabis operation?

“We didn’t realize how expensive it was going to be to be legal. We had a lot of friends in the legacy market in California, who we talked to about their businesses and how their businesses ran. And we thought, ‘Well that sounds pretty good, and we’re going to do what they do but we’re just going to be totally legal.’ This resulted in our building a bigger operation than we had first planned so we could create some economies of scale. For instance, we spent $100,000 on our OLCC-mandated security system, which requires another $5,000 per year in monitoring. Then we have $65,000-plus a year for product testing, $10,000 per year for plastic Metrc tags, and at least $100,000 per year in labor costs for seed-to-sale tracking.”

What’s something that would surprise most people about running a cannabis business?

“It’s really tough to make money. Most people not in the industry are really surprised to hear that everybody in the industry is really struggling, not just in Oregon.”

What keeps you up at night?

“I’d say our Oregon market. Philosophically, I’m not the kind to stay awake at night. I’m able to put it all to bed when I go to bed. I try not to think about that stuff right before I go to sleep. It feels like we are a frog in a pot of slowly heating water. We’re trying to hang on, but the water just keeps getting hotter and hotter. All along we’ve wanted to be a nationwide brand. But now it’s imperative that we have a two-pronged survival strategy. We must not only stay on top of our game in Oregon, but also look beyond Oregon to brand licensing deals in other states that will supplement our mother ship operation.”

What helps you sleep at night?

“It’s all of our crew, our employees, our team, those 25 people. When we had to shrink down from 45 to 25, we had to cut people’s hours, a lot of higher-level employees had to take pay cuts in order to shield the hourly wage employees from more pay cuts. Everybody is really, really dedicated to making this work. We’re like a family. We have a birthday celebration every month. We really care about each other.”

Any advice for others considering a cannabis business?

“Things take twice as long and cost twice as much as you think they’re going to. Plan to be in it for the long game. It’s a years’-long game. We thought when we got into this, we might be in it for three to five years. My husband [Chris Bechler, COO] and I are grandparents, we’re not spring chickens. I’ve already had a 30-year career teaching. It’s not turning out this way, we’re going to be here for quite a while. I would tell people they need to be fully committed for years. I’d also tell them, as getting into any business, work in the industry first … and really get to know what the challenges are so you’re not taken by surprise as we were on a lot of things.”