The Little Pot Shop That Could

Interlochen Alternative Health looks back at 10 years in the business

By Al Parker | April 15, 2023

When the legal sale of recreational marijuana began on March 1 in Green Lake Township, Interlochen Alternative Health (IAH) felt an immediate high.

“It’s been awesome,” says owner Stephen Ezell, who opened the business in 2013 to provide medical marijuana to card-holding clients. “Our business was up 400 percent the first day.”

The buzz at IAH continued throughout March. On a Friday afternoon, a steady stream of visitors trekked to the shop, tucked into a corner of the shopping plaza along U.S. 31. One woman, walking out with her purchase, shouted back, “See ya next Friday.”

“It’s been our best month ever,” explains Ezell, while greeting customers coming through the front door.

The Road to Recreational

The 73-year-old former Indiana postal worker moved to Traverse City in 2008 to enjoy a quiet retirement with his wife, Barbara. When she was diagnosed with cancer, their life plans changed dramatically. Barbara tried medical marijuana, and when it helped her cope with pain and nausea, the Ezells decided to start a business to try to help others suffering with cancer and other ailments.

(Barbara, an avid gardener and bird lover, passed away on May 20, 2022, six months after the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.)

Interlochen Alternative Health operated as a medical marijuana shop for five years before 2018, when Michigan voters approved the sale of recreational cannabis products to anyone over 21. The same law allowed communities to decide for themselves to allow recreational marijuana within their borders.

Green Lake Township commissioners nixed the idea. According to Ezell, the vote was 3-3, with one member refusing to vote on the somewhat-controversial measure.

Surprisingly, Ezell was not a big fan of recreational marijuana when it was first proposed. “If I had my way, recreational would have never came on,” he told a reporter for Interlochen Public Radio last year. “We’d have stayed with medical. But I can’t help it. It changed, the people approved it, and it’s just a fact of life right now that medical will not survive.”

But seeing the future of the industry, Ezell launched a campaign in 2022 and gathered signatures to have township voters—instead of the commissioners—decide the issue. And last November, the community approved the recreational sale of cannabis to adults.

Ezell says the commissioners’ original decision cost him and Green Lake Township money, the latter because they lost out on funds from the state’s adult-use marijuana excise tax. “I had to spend $25,000 on the voter initiative,” he says. “You know, if [the commissioners] had passed it and we had recreational last year, it would have raised $58,000 for the township.”

(Under the state law, each community gets a portion of the revenues generated by recreational cannabis sales.)

Special Strains

Despite the turbulence of the last year, IAH has a relaxed vibe. Pot posters and artwork decorate the walls. Upon entering, visitors can peruse glass cases full of glass pipes, colorful bongs, and other paraphernalia in the main room. There’s a small waiting area with two comfortable couches and a TV.

Visitors are called one at a time into a small back room to check over the shop’s inventory of cannabis products. Ezell’s adult son, Jordan, often handles the inventory sales there.

Top-shelf flower with names like “Strawnana,” “First Class Funk,” and “Sour Diesel” are available in bags hanging on a wall for prices ranging from $35 for an eighth of an ounce to $200 for a full ounce. Another wall offers a selection of vape carts: $25 each or two for $40.

All of Ezell’s products—leaf and gummies—come from licensed growers and processors. He has about 10 certified suppliers that he buys from on a regular basis. Of all Ezell’s products, the most popular strain is one called “BitchStare” and, naturally, there’s a story behind that one.

“A local gentleman is the grower of that,” says Ezell. “It’s his strain exclusively. Every grower wants his own strain. They take strain A and pair it with strain B, and nine out of 10 are just average. But this one is special, and this is his.”

As for the name? “Well, one day he was having a disagreement with his wife, and he realizes she was giving him a dirty look.” Apparently it was more than a mere glance of disdain, and it made an indelible impression on the grower.

“Later he was talking with a friend about BitchStare and asked him, ‘Whatya think?’” recalls Ezell. “Well, it’s popular and people remember it. It’s been unbelievable. It’s far and away our best seller.”

But the story has, perhaps, a sad ending. “The grower tells me he is going out of business,” says Ezell. Does that mean BitchStare is going away? “Quite possibly,” Ezell adds.

But IAH isn’t going anywhere. Ezell made an effort to get into the Traverse City market, but was not one of the 16 applicants chosen to get a recreational license in the city’s recent cannabis lottery. Still, Ezell is ready to expand his operation with a new store: Buds of Petoskey.

“We got lucky in the lottery there and we’ve bought a former Blarney Castle gas station on Charlevoix Avenue,” he says. “We hope to open later this year.”